


Fear and Fancy

by Hanajimasama



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Crime, Detectives, F/M, Horror, Modern AU, Mystery, Revenge, spooky happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-05 01:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15853458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanajimasama/pseuds/Hanajimasama
Summary: Set in current day New York. When one of Sam's police officers goes missing, it starts a chain reaction of mysterious disappearances which reminds Sam about his own bloody past. One by one his officers vanish and Sam looks to the main suspect of an old and very similar crime 'Bartholomew Bogue'.





	1. New York

**Prologue:**

The past can give us strength in hard times, conjure pleasant memories that life can be joyous and wonderful: but it can also be the swift reminder of how cold and unfair the world is, and it is those memories that weigh us down, suffocating us in our grief. It’s those thoughts we remember first even if they bring us the most pain..

For only in the grip of darkness  
Will we shine amidst the brightest stars.

 

  
**Chapter 1**   
_I want revenge.  
I want everything! Everything they took from me! I want it back! I’ll make ‘em suffer!_

_Everything they took from me I’ll take it back. I will make them pay, dearly.  
They will regret the day they challenged me._

 

*  
 _New York City, 26 June 2018_

New York City: a thriving metropolis. An endless flow of people going about their business among the towering skyscrapers and coursing river of traffic. But beneath the concrete pavements and daily routines of busy city folk who barely had time to look up from their phones, something lurked in the shadows. A sinister force wallowing in its selfish greed and desire.  
The Devil can take any form and can drive a hard bargain, but sometimes it is not the devil we should fear but our fellow man.

-

Matthew Cullen was a shining example in the force, he was friends with most people and had a very strong sense of justice, that had been apparent from his childhood. He was convinced he could be a superhero and save the world from evil. Teddy his childhood friend had been swept up in it and always played Matthew’s sidekick. They were inseparable and even moved to the same college in New York. Two small town teens in a big city like the big apple was overwhelming, it was here he found what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a police officer. To help protect those who couldn’t protect themselves and to uphold what he thought was right. So that’s exactly what he did. He trained and trained until he was accepted into the force. And there he remained for six years.

It had been a long day at work. Matthew had been on the nine to five shift and it had just been one of those days. He was just about to clock out and head home to his beautiful wife: Emma, he couldn’t wait to get home and spend his evening with her. But just as he reached the clocking out station another officer called him over.

“There’s been a call. A robbery..” the man looked at Matthew with a sense of urgency. Matthew’s shoulders slumped slightly as he sighed and withdrew his hand from the clocking out machine “Is there no one else?”

“My partner is in Sam’s office, he’s in pretty hot water and you were the closest person I could find” Matthew saw the concern in the officers face, it would just be easier if he went since he was so adamant for Matthew to accompany him probably because he was too lazy to find someone else. “It’s an old lady, lives -“

He gave in with a short nod, he couldn’t leave an old lady on her own after a break in. It just wasn’t the right thing to do. “I’ll go. I can head home after. I’ll meet you in the car. I just need to call my wife.” The officer nodded and headed out to the parking lot.   
Matthew pulled his cell phone out of his trouser pocket, running a hand through his hair as he called Emma. The phone rang twice before it was answered, he could almost see her smile as she greeted him warmly.

“Hey, Em.” 

There was a pause on the other end _“Staying late again?”_ she was so astute, she knew exactly when something was off, how he’d never understand.

He nodded even though she couldn’t see him “Yeah, a little old lady got broken into. I was asked to go check it out. I’m sorry. I said I’d be home on time” how often did he call her to announce he’d be late. How did she put up with him?

_“It wouldn’t be like you to turn it down. We’ve been married for five years, Matthew. I’m used to it. Go save the world dear.”_

“Thanks, Em. I’m sorry. I’ll be home soon. I love you.” pocketing his phone again, Matthew headed out to the parking lot. He would just have to wait a little longer before he could see Emma.

 

But Matthew never came home.

-

Emma sighed with a smile as she set the table for supper, he was always doing overtime when it was just as easy for someone else to do it. Emma loved him with all her heart and soul but his eagerness to help others sometimes put him in a tight spot. He always put others before himself.

The evening slowly ticked by. Emma had dished up their dinner already a simple but warming meal of meat pie, mash potato and peas, she wrapped the plates in tin foil and popped them into the oven to keep warm until Matthew came home.   
By time seven o’clock came Emma reluctantly decided to eat her meal alone. Sitting at their small round dining table in the kitchen and sighed as she slowly picked at her food. 

_It must have been a little more troublesome than he had anticipated._

Matthew’s dinner was disposed by the time it reached eight o’clock, the pie had become a little pile of mush and couldn’t be saved. Emma’s concern grew, it wasn’t like Matthew to not keep her updated. Should she message him? Though if he was busy then he wouldn’t answer right away. A quick phone call then, just so she knew he was okay. Grabbing her phone from the kitchen counter she tapped the icon which was a little icon of Matthew’s grinning face and held it up to her ear. The phone rang almost ten times but nobody answered. 

“Busy. It must be serious. I’ll try again soon.” Emma mumbled to herself and moved to the living room sitting down on the leather sofa her hands still cradling the phone expecting it to ring suddenly.   
The worrying wife tried to call her husband again fifteen minutes later but again she was met with that horrible ringing sound.   
The night had fully set in and it grew late. Emma looked up at the circular clock hanging on the far wall it was almost midnight now, five hours since Matthew had called. Her hands gripped the phone tightly anger and worry blending together.   
“This is ridiculous. He should have been home by now.” Even for Matthew this was pushing it, no matter how helpful he was.   
She called the station someone should know where he is.

“Matt? Nah, he clocked out hours ago…” Emma’s body when stiff, clocked out? But he wasn’t home...where could he be.. “Ma’am?” The voice on the other end of the phone snapped her out of her frantic thoughts and quickly cleared her throat, 

“thank you.” She hung up staring at her phone before going dialing another number,  
Matthew’s boss and chief of police: Sam Chisolm. 

She had met Sam several times before, mostly when she came to meet Matthew from work or more like usher him out of the station building but one of the first times she had met Sam was at her old place of work a few years prior. She had worked in a restaurant and one particular evening some customers had been very hands on with some of the waitresses, their boss didn’t care these men were paying customers and were far more important. Emma had punched one of them square in the face when they had made a pass at her, it escalated into a fight so the police were called as was an ambulance. 

She remembers being questioned by Sam who was initially taken back by her brash statement of ‘those pigs deserved it.’ Those pigs had claimed that she attacked them for no reason at all. When Matthew turned up he was still in uniform and very worried about his fiancés safety. After making sure she was safe and unharmed, he commented the mess she had left them in.

“This is your fiancé?” Sam had asked with a sceptical look, they seemed so far apart in personality but then again it seemed they both sought justice but apparently in very different ways.  
Matthew brimmed proudly as he introduced them “chief, this is Emma, we’re due to marry this fall.” He looked at Emma with a warm unwavering smile “Em, this is Sam Chisolm my boss.” 

“Mr. Chisholm” she said with a nod of her head. 

Sam wasn’t particularly pally with his officers, he was very straight edged and to the point but once Matthew heard that Sam lived alone he insisted on inviting his boss around for dinner on many occasions. Emma couldn’t refuse his requests, it was like a boy asking if he could bring his friend around for tea, she could barely say no. They slowly became friends outside of the workplace which is how Sam liked it. 

-  
“Hello?” A deep voice thick with sleep answered the phone, he didn’t sound too thrilled about being disturbed at this ungodly hour.   
“Sam, it’s Emma.” She started quickly “Matthew hasn’t come home. I rang the office but they say he clocked out hours ago.” Emma’s voice was drowning in concern and worry.

“You’re sure?” Sam Chisolm rarely showed any emotion and his voice was just as unemotional. This seemingly aloof attitude always riled Emma and especially in situations like this.

“Yes, I’m sure Sam! I just rang the office! Why would they lie?” Emma could have snapped the phone in her vice like grip,

“Alright, I’ll call them myself. Just calm down-“

“Do not tell me to calm down! My husband is missing. One of your officers is missing.” He apologised calmly and advised her to keep near the phone, he’d call back.

-  
_June 27th 2018_

Sam was tired. He hadn’t slept a wink that night. He had been at the station organising a search party for Matthew. His last callout, phone records, they put out a search on his black Cadillac. The system showed he clocked out at five minutes past five. The CCTV on the car park showed Matthew leaving the building just after that, climbing in his car and driving off and that was it. No matter how many times Sam watched that footage, he saw the same damn thing.

A knock on his office door turned his stinging eyes away from the brightness of the computer screen. “Come in!” An officer scurried in quickly,  
“Sir, we found Matthew’s car.” Sam bolted from his chair and grabbed his long black woolen jacket from the coat rack in his office, striding past the officer who followed at his superior’s heels.  
“Where was it found?” Sam swung his coat around with the grace of a stereotypical vampire‘s cape billowing behind him   
“Near the George Washington Bridge, Sir.” Sam frowned as he opened the door to his car, bridges had their own set of problems.

Matthew’s black Cadillac was there near to the intersection leading onto the double decker suspension bridge. Sam’s brow hadn’t eased at all. Pulling on a pair of white latex gloves Sam began inspecting the car. The keys were still in the ignition that is alway a bad start, did someone drive his car here? Did he leave it here? In the glove compartment were his phone, wallet, house keys, even his gun was still there. Sam leant against the bonnet of the Cadillac looking out towards the suspension bridge.  
“Matthew, what were you thinking?” He pondered out loud, his broad shoulders slumped when certain possibilities crossed his mind, being parked so close to a bridge usually meant one thing. Suicide. Sam took a young officer with him who happened to be a very good friend of Matthew: Teddy Q, and headed to the control panel near the toll booths.

 

“Sam Chisolm, head of police. I need to see the surveillance footage from last night.”  
“Y-yes, Sir.”  
“Who was working last night? Did they mention anything strange?”  
“No, sir. If there was anything we’d have called.” Sam’s brow couldn’t frown further “I need all the footage from all cameras on and around the bridge starting from at least five thirty.”  
“Sir, there are at least twenty-nine on each of the toll booths alone-“ Sam cut off the surveillance personnel, he didn’t want excuses he needed results. 

“I want all of them,” Sam reiterated sternly staring at the poor camera technician coldly, he turned his gaze to the young officer that had joined him “Teddy. I want the footage copied and on my desk by the evening.” Teddy uttered a yes sir and set to helping with the bucket load of work they had to get done.   
“I am going to pay Emma a visit.” Teddy nodded. He had checked in with Emma this morning and could only tell her that it would be alright, they’d find him. Teddy was just as worried, Matthew was just as dear to him as he was to Emma. 

 

-  
Sam sat at his desk and painstakingly combed through each piece of footage from the toll booths, he had enlisted several other officers to check them over too should his old eyes miss something. Tapping the spacebar on his laptop to pause the footage to take off his rectangular glasses and rub at his tired and stinging eyes. He had been staring at this screen for almost five hours and there was still so much to go though. Sam yawned and reached for his cup of horribly cold coffee, it was so bitter but he didn’t have the luxury of fetching a fresh pot. There was a loud bang as the door to his office swung open and a female officer bolted into his room. The coffee that had just touched the back of his throat was expelled back into the cup and down his hand. The mug was set down on his desk very calmly and his stern gaze flashed up to the officer who had stopped in her tracks like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Elwood, is there a reason you can’t knock?” He growled attempting to wipe the split coffee with a napkin left from his lunch. 

“S-sorry Sir!” The blonde female officer apologised quickly “It’s just...well look” she set down the laptop she had been carrying on his desk and pressed play on the screen. Sam frowned. There was Matthew’s car driving up to the bridge a little after midnight but nobody left the car, it just stopped and stayed there untouched until the police found it in the morning. 

“Which camera was this”

“It was Eastbound. You can see it from another camera too but nobody leaves the car.” 

Something didn’t add up.

 

More questions and no answers to give Emma.

 

-


	2. Don't blame Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> amazing art by whereverigobillygoes

 

 

 

_June 26th_

 

“We’re here.” Matthew grabbed his hat and got out of the car. The prim, well looked after house seemed far too big for an old lady to be living in alone. Something seemed off, he wasn’t sure what, but there was a little voice at the back of his mind telling him to leave. His boots clicked on the well maintained garden path, but when he knocked loudly on the door there was no reply. He tried twice more, then reached for the handle and pressed it down with a quiet creak. He pushed the door open carefully. “Hello? Ma’am? It’s the police.” He turned to his partner and nodded; they both grabbed their guns and flashlight before slowly venturing into the house.

Matthew remembered his basic training: check corners and behind doors before venturing too far into a room - they were the most common hiding places for potential attackers. There seemed to be no sign of a break-in, or even that anyone had been actually inhabiting this house: a thick layer of dust coated all the furniture. He started to wonder if they had come to the wrong house.

“Cullen!” The voice of the other officer hollered from a different room. Matthew followed the sound of his partner’s voice, flashing his torch around to find his way. He soon found him standing in a doorway his torch pointing into the room. Matthew joined him at the open door. He felt a chill run down his spine as he stared down into the pitch black of a basement. “I heard a noise...perhaps she fell?”

Matthew’s brow furrowed with unease: the chill he felt wasn’t from the draft rising up from the basement. Something felt very wrong but he couldn’t not investigate it - what if this bad feeling was all it was and he left an old lady injured in the basement? Swallowing his worries Matthew descended first down the rickety wooden stairs into the darkness, still calling out for the old lady.….

-

 _June 28th_  
“I told you everything I know.” Mrs Cullen said sternly, her hands firmly wrapped around a hot cup of coffee. “This is the second time I’ve had to give the same statement and I still haven’t heard any news.”

“Ma’am, we are working tirelessly on trying to find exactly what happened.” McCann explained with a smirk tugging at his lips. The notepad in his hand pretended to make notes for a report he had no intention of writing. He didn’t like Matthew, he was always too much of a teachers pet.

“Have you found his car yet?” McCann shook his head and apologised flatly, encouraging her to sit tight they’d find him. He and his colleague thanked Emma for the coffee and left the premises, heading back to their car.

 

“McCann? Why did you not mention the car?” The driver pulled his car door shut and glanced at his passenger quickly,

“If we told her where we found his car, what do you think would be her first thought?” McCann asked pulling his seatbelt across and clicking it into place,

“That he jumped off the bridge?”

“Exactly. She’s better off not knowing yet, and besides Sam said we weren’t allowed to reveal that information not until we’re sure.” They drove back to the station to the sound of the radio quietly playing some top hit of the week. A happy looking family photo graced the home screen.of the phone in his partner’s hand. ”Your kid?” McCann asked,

“It is. She’s eight.” He brimmed with pride “She’s a proper little adventurer. Loves climbing trees and….” McCann feigned interest in the man’s warbling; he didn’t care at all but anything was better than the garbage blaring out of the radio.

“Why don’t you get some lunch first? I’ll start writing up the report.” McCann offered flatly as they pulled into the station’s car park. His fellow officer nodded eagerly, exclaiming how hungry he was and about the amazing lunch his wife had made him this morning. McCann felt like throwing up in his mouth, this man was revolting.

-

 

_June 29th_

Sharp black polished shoes clicked on the smooth halls of the police station. A shaky hand moved from the pocket of a crisp black pinstripe suit jacket to a furrowed brow to dab away beads of sweat even though it wasn’t a particularly hot day. The shoes stopped at a little wooden desk with a middle aged man sat behind it.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Yes, I am here to see Mr Chisolm. I believe he is expecting me,” said the man, flashing a painfully false smile.

“Your name sir?”

“Bogue, Bartholomew Bogue” The secretary glanced over the open ledger in front of them peering over his thin-framed glasses. A frown appeared on his brow: there was a name missing from the pages. He looked up at Bogue with an apologetic smile “I am sorry, sir, but you don’t seem to be on here..”

“Really? I was certain it was today. Why don’t you check again?” Sighing, the secretary looked back at the pages only to find the name right there.

“Oh, yes, there you are. I’ll tell him you’re here.” The little man got up, scurried to the glass door behind him and knocked twice.

 

“Mr. Bogue is here to see you sir.” He gestured for Bogue to enter the office.

The office behind was neat and symmetrical, the desk sitting exactly in the middle with a long dark red rug leading from the door up to it. The room barely let in any natural light, but several lamps illuminated it, making it all the more imposing.

 

The door clicked quietly behind Bogue as he walked across the room. The owner of this office was sat behind his desk, head resting on a hand that leant on the surface. Sam breathed heavily as he slept, the police chief had barely had time to sleep with this case just growing with urgency but sleep had caught up with him finally.

Bogue pulled a cigarette out of his pocket raising it to his lips, the tip glowing without the need of a lighter. He inhaled deeply and released the thick grey smoke into the air, seeming to circle round Sam like a little cloud.

-

“Mr. Chisolm, it has been some time. I would wager twelve years or so yes?” Bogue smiled crookedly as he stared down at Sam who had started upright in his large office chair. _What had he been doing? When did he allow this weasel into his office?_

“More or less. Sit down.” Sam ordered gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. Confused as he was he couldn’t lose face to Bogue.

Bogue declined “I think I’ll stay standing. I don’t plan on being here that long. Now what is this about?”

Sam watched the suited man amble around his office looking aimlessly at the hoard of books he kept in there. What had he called Bogue to his office for?

 

“I have several officers missing and-“ he mumbled to himself, Bogue glanced over his shoulder with amusement.

 

“And you think I had a hand in it?” He tutted and shook his head “You seek to blame me. Again?” Sam scowled at him. “You tried so hard to pin all your shortcomings on me last time and look what happened? Almost ruined your shining career as an upholder of the law.”

Sam hated this weasel of a man. Everything about him was wrong.

“Just admit it, Chisolm, the truth you can’t bear to hear. You’re weak.” Bogue walked behind Sam, circling him like a shark. “You couldn’t protect them then and looks like it’ll be the same again.”

Sam slammed his hands down on his desk as Bogue reached the rug and stood facing his old adversary with a smug smile on his lips. “You are nothing but a  
yellow-bellied sap-sucking coward. I know you had a hand in this!”

“That’s what you said last time. May your good lord have mercy on you, Mr. Chisolm. Good day.” Bogue nodded his head with a smirk and left Sam’s office as quickly as he had arrived.

Sam let out an angry cry and swept everything off his desk in one fell swoop of his arms.

He hated that man so much.

 

As the door to Sam’s office clicked shut he jolted. In the blink of an eye his desk was as neat and tidy as it always was. His coffee had gone ice cold even though he could have sworn it was fresh. Sam moved from his desk and slammed open his office door startling the poor man at the secretary desk outside

“Mister Chisolm?”

“What time did Bogue leave?”

“Bogue? Sir..you haven’t had any meetings today..” Sam frowned running a hand over his short hair, how could that be? Bogue had just been in there. “Sir...forgive me for saying but maybe you should go get some rest. You have been working nonstop for days.”

Sam’s hand slid down his face and came to rest over his mouth as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. Perhaps it was just fatigue, but it all felt so real..though even though Sam hated Bogue with all his being calling him out like that in his office would cause a lot of trouble and could cost Sam his job. Slowly and quietly Sam retreated back into his office. He stood silently as the unease in his stomach churned like a choppy stormy sea.

It had been almost twelve years since the last time he had the displeasure of looking at Bogue’s revolting mug. Something about Bogue had never sat right with Sam but it seemed as though the greasy shrewd businessman had always been one step ahead of him. Calming his nerves Sam moved to sit back in his comfortable leather chair that cradled his tired body and sighed deeply as he looked down at the documents laid neatly across his desk.

This had happened before. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

Sam leant back in his chair and stared up at the beige painted ceiling. He had to speak to Goodnight who had worked on that case alongside him all those years ago.  
He pulled his personal cell phone from the pocket of his jacket, then hesitated, staring at it a moment: he knew this topic wouldn’t sit well with his old friend but he was the only one he could turn to.  
He held the phone to his ear, waiting for the call to be answered by a soft southern accent.

“Goody...Goody, I need your help.”


	3. Goody Goody

_June 29th_

Goodnight sat on the uncomfortable sofa in Sam’s office cradling a cup of coffee that had long gone cold. Sam himself was seated opposite him staring at the piles of paper laid out across the small table. Sam had said his piece and voiced his theories and concerns to his old friend. 

“Sam, We’ve been through this,” Goodnight started with a tired sigh, setting the cup down on a coaster “There was no evidence to link Bogue to that string of murders, you know that.”

“It was him! I know it was!” Sam snapped back quickly. “Don’t you think it’s strange? This is exactly what happened last time. Look! Look at-“ 

Goodnight slammed his hands on the table. 

“Sam Chisolm! That’s enough. Can’t you see this obsession? This guilt, it’s making you sick. We’ve been through this time and again. We looked at all the motives, the angles. There. Was. Nothing.” The Cajun’s shoulders slumped after his outburst, fingers laced together running the thumbs over each other “Sam, I am sorry what happened to your family, I truly am but you can’t keep doing this. To yourself and to me.” He looked at Sam dead in the eyes, his bright blue eyes tired of holding in all the worry and anger. 

“Goody..I-“ A sharp knock against the glass of his door drew Sam’s attention away from his friend who was glaring at him with the force of a raging storm. Goodnight was not a person you wanted against you.

Officer Elwood. opened the door, not venturing too far inside when she noticed the looming atmosphere . “You called, sir?” He nodded and gestured to her to close the door behind her. “Goody..” she greeted him with a weary smile: Goodnight was someone she knew well. He might as well be her father-in-law with how close he was to Billy and it was thanks to the Cajun detective that she met Billy in the first place. 

“Cassandra, I need you to go interview Emma Cullen,” Sam explained, rummaging through the stacks of paper scattered across the low coffee table. 

“Matthew’s wife?” she asked with a slight frown “I thought she had already been interviewed.”

“She has, but I need you to go and ask her some more questions.” Sam finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a set of reports holding them out for her to take “Read these and see what else you can learn, if anything. There has to be something else.” Cassandra flicked through the documents. The frown she wore twisted into a look of concern before she glanced up at her boss. 

“I thought Matthew was just missing..” she glanced up from the papers “Are we treating this as a murder now?”

“Not yet,” was Sam’s chilling response. “Just go, and don’t mention that to Mrs Cullen or to Teddy either.”

“Sure thing, boss. I’ll go right away.” Cass exited the office with the documents under her arm.  
Goodnight waved with a tired smile as she left the room which was short lived, 

Goodnight rose to his feet grabbing his tweed jacket and draping it over his arm “You need to stop with these silly conspiracies, I know you don’t like Bogue but you have to move on and focus on more pressing matters like finding your missing officers. Good day, Sam.” He picked his hat up from the table placing it on his smooth greying hair and left Sam to his solitude. 

Being this cruel to Sam after all these years did hurt Goodnight but he had to put his foot down, Sam’s digging up the past wasn’t helping anyone, including himself. 

-

Matthew’s sudden disappearance had spurred a lot of rumours around the station, most of which Cassandra didn’t believe at all. He’d never leave his wife, everyone knew how much Matthew adored her. She got in her car and looked over the documents one last time before shoving them into her glove box and heading to the address scribbled down on a small fragment of paper. 

She drove up to a cute little house in the suburbs, and made sure she had everything she needed before venturing out of the safety of her car and across the well looked after front lawn. 

_Deep breaths. It’ll be okay._

She knocked loudly on the brown varnished door and shifted nervously on the spot: she hated interviewing people when they’d been grilled already. Cassandra stood to attention as she heard the locks click and the door was pulled open slowly.

“Can I help you?” Emma Cullen was as pretty as she’d heard, pale face decorated with little freckles and long auburn hair. She looked very tired.

“Mrs Cullen?” Cassandra extended a hand for her to shake. “Officer Cassandra Elwood, Mister Chisolm sent me. I need to ask you a few questions about your husband” 

Emma frowned when she heard Sam’s name mentioned. 

“I’ve answered his questions already,” she snapped. “How much more time is he going to waste?” 

Cassandra could understand Emma’s anger towards Sam: it was frustrating to not know and to be able to do nothing. 

“He sent me to see if we can draw anything else. We’re looking at all our options, ma’am, It won't take long, I promise.” 

Emma let her in and made some coffee for them both. They sat quietly in the living room while Cassandra pondered where to start. “You said Matthew called to say he would be late because of a robbery?”

“Yes, even though he had just finished his shift.” Cass nodded, that definitely sounded like Matthew - she had lost count of the amount of times she had told him to go home long after his shifts had been finished. Though it was strange: even though she said it was a call out there hadn’t been any report of a call out at that time and the only person that knew where exactly he had gone to was Matthew. 

Glancing over the notes she had Cassandra asked another question “He went alone to the house?” 

“What? No. He went with someone.” That wasn’t in the report at all. Why wasn’t that there? 

“You’re sure?” 

Emma nodded a frown slowly starting to grace her brow. 

“Yes, Matthew always said you couldn’t go to a callout alone. You have a buddy system.”

“That’s right.” She paused to sip the bitter black coffee “Did he mention who he went with?” Cass frowned into her coffee: was there more to Matthew’s disappearance than Sam was letting on? 

“He didn’t.” Cass’s unease seemed to make Emma anxious “Is something wrong?”

“All the reports said that Matthew went alone.” Something was definitely wrong, she could feel it in her bones. She rummaged through her jacket pocket and pulled out a small business card. “I know you think we’re not doing enough, I would feel the same if something happened to my fiancé. Take this, give them a call.”

“A private detective?” Emma looked up, a little shocked by the officer’s action: recommending other people was surely a way of saying _This is beyond our capabilities._

“Sam is a good police officer, it’s just...I think an outside perspective on the case might help. Goodnight is a close friend and works with my fiancé. There are somethings I’m going to follow up on.” Emma followed Cassandra’s action movement from her seat. “Thank you for your time. I’ll keep in contact.” 

As Emma showed Cassandra out she turned back to her with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry Emma, we’ll find him.” 

_Emma pov_

“Thank you.” Sam hadn’t once comforted her, just probed her with question after question, never stopping to ask her if she was alright. But she knew he was just as worried: Matthew was a close friend to Sam and the officer did struggle to show emotion most of the time “Before you go. Did they find Matthew’s car?” 

Emma watched the officer tense and look at her with a hint of worry. 

“...did they not inform you?” Emma felt sick to her stomach: what hadn’t they told her? 

“They found his car by the George Washington Bridge...all his possessions were there but we’re ruling out suicide as a cause of death...Matthew wouldn’t-“

“What? When? What else haven’t I been told?!” Emma’s anger caught the slightly shorter officer by surprise. It was safe to say Emma was furious Sam had lied to her. Her own husband was missing and he wasn’t telling her anything. 

By the time she left almost an hour later, Emma was a whirlwind of emotion. The redhead watched the officer drive off and found herself staring at the driveway expecting Matthew to drive up and apologise for being so late with that silly but endearing grin she loved so much. A sigh escaped her lips. 

_Please be okay Matthew. You have to come home._

She looked at the slightly crinkled card in her hand and decided to call this Goodnight, to see if he could shed more light on the situation. After all, what did she have to lose?

-

Cassandra had returned from her interview with Emma Cullen determined to check out a few things that seemed to have been stupidly overlooked.   
Why had previous reports stated that Matthew had gone alone? They weren’t allowed to go to call out alone, in case of emergencies; and why was there no record of the call out? There seemed to be no phone call, no traces, nothing. 

There were so many things she had to look up and a report to write. Cassandra stopped by the break room to see if she could find the partner she had been assigned for this case. 

“Teddy!” The mousy haired man jumped, clearly not having heard her creep into the room. “Teddy, can you do me a favour, please?”

Teddy was cautious “I’m not going to get in trouble again am I?”

“I did apologise about that. Anyway, can you find me the work rotas for the day Matthew went missing?” Teddy looked sad at the mention of his name: he and Matthew were good friends and his disappearance had hit him hard. “If it’s about Matthew – leave it to me.” 

Twenty minutes later Cassandra was sat at her desk writing up her report, a mug of tea slowly going cold beside her mouse. Teddy hurried up to her desk and handed her a few sheets of paper, two different rotas a week apart.

“I got them for you and also for the day when Hank went missing.” 

Cass glanced up: she hadn’t heard he was missing.   
“Hank Stoner? I thought he was on holiday with his daughter?” 

Teddy tensed and leaned closer to her,   
“That was the official story but..I-“ He looked around cautiously before carrying on. “I overheard Mr Chisolm talking with the detective. His daughter put in a missing persons report two days ago.” 

Cassandra frowned and turned her gaze back to the papers,: could there be a connection? Her frown deepened at one name in particular.

Thomas McCann.

He had been on the same shift as Matthew the night he disappeared. There was also the fact that Matthew had gone on an undocumented callout with someone, it was known that McCann flitted about the station like a paper kite most days and he had had quite the dispute with Hank about something petty Cassandra couldn’t quite remember what. 

Cassandra and McCann didn’t see eye to eye, they butted heads more often than not. Why someone like him wanted to be in the force was beyond her. He was the sort of man they arrested not hired. McCann was lacking in the empathy department, he was an opportunist, he enjoyed making other people feel small so he could seize any chance that arose. 

 

“You think it was something to do with him?” It wasn’t a hidden act that McCann did not exactly get along with everyone in the force, he was a greasy character that nobody enjoyed being paired up with.

“Should we tell Sam?”

“Well I think we should,” she replied, grabbing her jacket “Let’s go find him.” That plan was short lived. Sam’s secretary told them he had gone home early. 

“So what now?” Teddy asked following Cassandra into the break room “Besides you know Sam wouldn’t want discord within the station.”

“If we have proof though.”

“Speculations. We don’t know he had anything todo with it.” Teddy sighed, it would be easy to blame McCann but that wasn’t fair on him but if he did have a hand in it then maybe they should bring it to Sam’s attention. He just wanted to Matthew to be found and to see Emma smile again. They had to find Matthew. “Let’s go look then.” Teddy said looking over at Cassandra who was mid pouring them some coffee.   
“Lets go.”


	4. Searching

_June 30th_

Emma clutched the strap on her leather satchel as she walked up the few steps to a quaint little building that looked like a simple shop at first glance. The waiting room on the first floor was decorated more like an old fashioned library: a well dressed man in a tailored grey tweed suit with slightly greying hair sat in a large old fashioned chesterfield, a pair of reading glasses resting on the end of his nose. He glanced up from the newspaper in his hands and smiled kindly at her, carefully folding up the newspaper and setting it down on a glass topped coffee table beside a neat little stack of magazines.

“Mister Robicheaux?” Emma crossed the room with confidence and held out a hand. “Emma Cullen, we spoke on the phone.” He nodded and shook her hand with a reassuring smile.

“Enchanté.” Goodnight must have seen the worry and concern behind Emma’s steeled expression. “Your hands are cold, Mrs Cullen. Nervous?” He shook his head and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll help you.” He led Emma out of the cozy little waiting room and up a elegantly decorated staircase, the deep green carpet and dark wooden banister and furnishings in keeping with the vintage and professional air.   
“Billy! Make some coffee!’ he called, getting a mumbled response as he opened a door with frosted glass panels. Emma felt as though she had gone back to the seventies with this decor. “Please take a seat.” She took a spot on one of the leather sofas and set her bag on her lap.

Goodnight ran a hand over his slicked back hair and took a seat opposite her as the door clicked open and an Asian man entered carrying a tray of coffee in fine china cups. This man was far younger than Goodnight but similarly well dressed, in black pinstripe trousers and waistcoat and a crisp white shirt, the sleeves rolled up over his elbows. In this day and age it was strange to see someone with a moustache but it oddly suited this man.  
“Mrs Cullen, this is my partner Billy Rocks.” Goodnight introduced; Billy nodded to Emma and took a seat next to the Southern detective. 

There was an awkward silence between the trio until Emma broke it, only to be interrupted straight away by Goodnight.

“Sorry to interrupt Mrs Cullen…” He took a deep breath, leaning over the side of the sofa to grab a well worn leather briefcase and setting it on the low rise mahogany coffee table. The golden clasp popped open loudly and Goodnight laid out a file on the table. “I am already very aware of your problem. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but the police have already been in contact with me, though regarding a different matter. An old case-“

“They’re starting to think it’s a murder,” Emma added coldly “It’s not that I don’t believe they can do their job but I don’t like being kept in the dark. I need to find my husband.” She looked Goodnight in the eye as she spoke. Worried as she was, she had to be strong. She had to be otherwise her grief might consume her. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you.” 

-

Today had felt as though it would never end. Billy arched his back as he climbed out of his car. Sitting in one spot for a long time comparing notes and asking questions was tiring, contrary to popular belief. He spotted the black car in the drive which brought a little smile to his lips. She was home early. There was a spring in his step as he walked up the garden path and fumbled for his keys.   
The door was opened for him and a small blonde stood looking up at him.  
“Welcome home darling,” she beamed at him and reached up to touch his cheek gently; they met part way to kiss one another. “You look tired. Come on, dinner is almost finished.” 

The days when she was home early always made Billy smile – it meant they could cuddle and unwind together. He had an awful habit of dozing off while waiting for her to return especially if she was on a late shift. He hated those shifts. Leaning against the wall as he pulled off his well polished leather shoes, a cheerful bark greeted him. The tan coloured corgi sat eagerly at his feet, his little fluffy tail and butt wagging in tandem, a pair of black house slippers in his mouth.   
Billy wasn’t a dog person, but this one was an exception. “Thanks, Archie.” He reached down to ruffle the dog’s long fur, earning a chipper bark in return. 

“Dinner!” Archie bolted off towards the kitchen and skidded round a corner, Billy following more slowly. Archie sat at his little placemat beside the round table as Cass placed his dinner down, but he sat patiently [?] until both Cass and Billy were at their places and he was given permission to eat. 

“Cass, honey.” The blonde looked up from her bowl with a mouthful of noodles. “About the client you sent us.” Billy glanced at her sternly and watched her shuffle nervously in her chair and turn her gaze back towards her food. He sighed she could be so stubborn at times.  
“If Sam finds out you told Mrs Cullen to contact us you’re going to be in big trouble.” He noticed her tense at his warning tone. 

“I don’t care,” she mumbled, pushing away from the table suddenly, was she angry at him for prying. He followed her to the cupboard and watched her rummage around for something in the cupboard, 

“Cass-” she grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and closed the cupboard door trying to move past Billy who copied her movements. “Cass come on.”  
“She’s worried, Billy. Sam was keeping things from her!”  
“Cass...”  
“She has a right to know!”  
“Cass…”  
“It’s her husband!”  
“Cass…” Billy’s words weren’t getting past his little fiancée’s pent-up rage, so Billy took another approach and kissed her on the tip of her nose making her step back flustered “I get that you’re worried, but you shouldn’t have done that”

“She wants answers, Billy, she deserves that much.” Cassandra sighed and slipped her arms around his chest, burying her face in his shirt. “To be able to do nothing...to feel that helpless...must be horrible.” She glanced up at him. “If something were to happen to you..I’d do everything to find you…” 

Billy smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Even pick fights with men twice your height and weight-“  
“That was one time, Billy Rocks!” she huffed, “that bastard deserved it.”   
They smiled fondly at each other. It had been a difficult task to get either of them to confess their feelings at the beginning but now three years down the line it was only when they were together that they were most comfortable.   
The dark-haired detective pulled her into his arms tightly. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, alright?” 

Cass smiled into his chest, absorbing the warmth that radiated from him. “I always am.”  
“Good, now that’s settled let's eat before our food gets cold.”

The night soon crept up on them and sleep took them both, nestled in each other’s arms. But the universe had a different plan for them. A collective groan sounded through the darkened bedroom as a loud ringing screeched from the little cell phone flashing and vibrating on the wooden bedside table. An arm shot out and patted around in the darkness trying to locate the item, finally grabbing the phone and pulling down. 

“Hm..hello?” Cassandra answered, still half sleep, 

_“I need you at the station.”_ No apology, no emotion: that was the voice of her boss. _“I need to speak with you now.”_

“We are..”

 _“Station, now. We’ve had another disappearance.”_ That phrase caught her attention and she finally sat up in bed, telling Sam she’d be there as soon as. 

Her sudden movement woke Billy. “Where are you going?”

“I have to go to the station.” 

He clamped his eyes shut as the main light of the room was switched on, then swung his legs out of the bed and headed down to the kitchen, grabbing a thermos flask from the cupboard and starting to make coffee. He watched the kettle slowly come to boil with a worried stare: he didn’t want her to go but it was the nature of her job. The kettle’s click snapped him out of his daze and he poured the water into the flask and added sugar and milk to it before clipping down the lid and heading to the front door where his fiancée was pulling on her boots. 

“Be careful,” he said with a worried glance as he handed her the flask. 

She replied with a gentle kiss and a reassuring if somewhat tired smile, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.” With a last kiss she hurried out to her car, leaving Billy and Archie at the front door. 

-

Teddy was on the late shift. It was often quieter at night so he didn’t mind it, though it did lead to a somewhat nocturnal lifestyle if you did them too often. He was following up some leads for Matthew’s case, looking into properties owned by Bartholomew Bogue; Sam was strangely adamant this man had something to do with it. 

“Working hard there Teddy boy?” He glanced up from the glowing computer screen and came face to face with McCann; he hadn’t even heard him come in the room. “Don’t look so scared, Ted. I just came to talk.” Teddy was wary of McCann after what Cassandra had told him. He flicked his screen off and pushed his chair back but something stopped it. Shivers ran down his spine, the room felt like it had dropped in temperature. A pair of large heavy hands set down on Teddy’s small shoulders. _How had someone got behind me?_ Trembling Teddy glanced upwards to see the face of whoever had a tight hold on him. He felt the air leave his lungs, the man’s cold bright eye bore down into his very core. Something about this man was unnatural like Teddy could barely register any features of him it was as if he was the shadows themselves. Darkness seemed to spread from the man like an overflowing sink. McCann seemed to unfazed by the darkness that was engulfing the room. 

“Like I said, Teddy boy, I just want to talk.” Teddy Q’s screams were silenced by the darkness that wrapped around him like a blanket and spirited the police officer away. 

McCann sat on Teddy’s desk and flicked the screen back on. “Don’t worry, Teddy, I’ll finish this report for you.” 

 

_July 1st_

 

Cassandra hadn’t gone home: she had stayed at the station until her shift had been ready to start. It was safe to say she was tired. Sam had spoken to her in his office that morning. Teddy was gone. He had just vanished. The other officers on shift said that they had seen him in his office one moment and when they passed twenty minutes later he was gone. All of his personal possession were still there and he couldn’t have gone home without his house keys. When she had mentioned her thoughts on McCann..it hadn’t gone down so well.

_“I know you and McCann don’t see eye to eye, it’s no secret, but you can’t just blame him.”_

_“He has been on shift with two people that have vanished and he and Hank had had a disagreement before he left-“_

_“How do you know about Hank?”_

_“Teddy overheard you talking to Goody. Boss, I want to help but it feels like you aren’t focusing on the same thing we are.”_

_“I am doing my job, Elwood, and so should you. If you think McCann is involved fine, bring me evidence first.”_

_“Yes, sir.” Cassandra quickly left his office, slamming his door on the way and headed down to the archives to see what she could dig up._

And there she had remained. They had both paper and digital records in case of fires and electrical surges. Despite McCann’s character his digital records were strangely clean, but she was sure she’d heard different from somewhere. There had to be paper documents somewhere. Everything was recorded by numbers and codes and could be found in an electronic itinerary. The archives room was a maze and even with her found code it would take her sometime to find the files she wanted. All files on police personal were kept in a variety of large metal filing cabinets and contained past and present officers. “Okay, M…” she stopped in front of the cabinet labeled with the corresponding letter and gripping the handle pulled the heavy drawer towards her. “Lets see. M.A..” the drawer was pushed back and another opened. “MA...M...B...Oh come on.” she sighed pulling open another drawer this time finally arriving at the MC section. It felt like she had been down there for hours flicking through old musty smelling documents. With a brief swear of success she pulled McCann’s files out.  
“What...the hell”  
The paper files had been altered, it was covered in so much white tape, which meant someone paid to have McCann’s history erased. Sam wasn’t going to like that at all. 

The lights of the archive room flickered and a door slammed shut. Swearing loudly the small officer whirled around dropping the files she had been poring over to reach for her gun. 

“Who's there?” she called into the darkness, slowly pulling her gun from its holster “Teddy? If this is your idea of a joke I am not impressed.” There was no reply and it wasn’t long before the lights flickered back on. “Weird..” she mumbled, turning back to her files and finding them… “Gone..but they were right here.”

Cassandra half shrieked as her phone vibrated loudly from inside her jacket pocket.

“Jesus Christ, Billy.” His soft laughter on the other end made her feel a little more at ease.

_“Sorry..”_

“It’s alright, you scared me half to death though,” she laughed back.

_“Just checking in with you.”_

“I’m fine, the coffee you made was a godsend.” She leant against the filing cabinet and enjoyed a brief chat with him. “Billy..can you look into someone for me…” That was an odd request since she was standing in the police archives. “Thanks, hon. I should get back to work. I’ll see you later. Love you.”

*

 

Three individuals sat before Sam’s tidy desk. Sam turned over the little business card in his fingers: _Tres Amigos. Conspiracy and ghost hunters_ : the best, apparently.

Joshua Faraday was the front of this little ragtag team, though by his fitted dark denim jeans, X-files t-shirt and scruffy beard Sam had almost assumed he had just woken up and planned to meet up with friends, not attend a business meeting. Vasquez – no first name given, _I prefer it that way, makes me seem mysterious, yes?_ – wore much darker jeans and a crisp white t-shirt; at least he looked a little tidier than Faraday, even with a fuller beard than his friend. And Red Harvest was seemingly the youngest of the bunch in a baggy basketball t-shirt and baggy three- quarter jeans, not an inch of facial hair in sight.  
“I’m told you’re the best, or so Mr Faraday claims.”   
“Because we are.”  
“I have a job for you,” Sam started cryptically, sliding the report over the table to them. Vasquez took it to read first. “It started with one of my officers vanishing without a trace – he just didn't come home.” 

“Skipped town?” asked Faraday, leaning over Vasquez’ shoulder. 

“He wouldn’t leave his wife behind. Since then two more of my officers have gone missing.”

“And you called us?”

“This happened twelve years ago. My family disappeared in the same way.” Sam frowned “I have a suspect in mind, but he seems to be one step ahead.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Vasquez promised with a nod of his head, holding out a hand for the stern police chief to shake.


	5. A Long Night

_July 1st_

Goodnight tapped his fingers on his desk as he glanced over the findings again, the deja-vu feeling practically drowning him. He frowned deeply: it was so much more than just one person at stake since two more of Sam’s officers had gone missing.

Goody read through the report that Cassandra had written up, covering her questioning of Emma Cullen, a report with a key difference from the other versions he had read. A suspect they had overlooked? A name that seemed to somehow slip through the cracks … but how had this many people missed the same name? He grabbed the phone from his tweed jacket pocket and called Sam.

“Sam, what can you tell me about a Thomas McCann?”

 _“McCann?”_ Sam hummed on the other end _“Cocky, egotistical, couldn’t tell you why he chose this particular line of work, it doesn’t suit him much. Is there a problem?”_

“In Cassandra’s report she says that Matthew was on a call out with someone when he vanished and Mrs Cullen said the same thing. All the other reports fail to mention that, and the name of the officer he was on duty with.” Goodnight flipped through the report again casting his tired eyes over the papers. “Cassandra narrowed down recurring names and this McCann seems to be a suspect you overlooked.” 

Sam grumbled on the other end of the line. _“I’ve called in some specialists. To look over some footage for me. I think it might have been tampered with, unless-“_

“No. Sam. Don’t you dare. If you start spouting that hocus-pocus malarkey again-“ Goodnight waved his free hand around in the air angrily as he lectured his old friend. 

_“I’m just observing all possible opportunities, Goody.”_

“Sam!” Goody swore colourfully as his old friend hung up on him and slapped his phone down on the mountain of papers scattered across his desk. Sam was just reliving the past, he was convinced, the family he couldn’t save; instead of trying to save the missing victims he was trying to avenge his lost loved ones.

“Everything alright, Goody?” Billy asked as he entered the room with a tray of coffee for them both. Goodnight leant back in his chair running a hand through his greying hair “Sam being difficult?”

“As always.” Goodnight noticed the concern in his partner’s eyes “Don’t worry, your little flower is fine. I already warned Sam about that.” Goodnight sighed deeply, accepting a cup of coffee from the tray. “I need to see Sam. Apparently he has brought in some _experts_ ”

“I’m coming with you” Billy grabbed his pinstripe jacket from the coat rack.  
“Let me just pour this into flask. Where did you hide my whiskey?” Billy looked up from his own mug with disapproval   
“You promised you wouldn’t drink at work again, so I poured it down the sink.” Goodnight opened his mouth to protest and remembered the fiasco that had occurred a while back. It had been during a particular tough investigation and Goodnight had put a lot of time and emotions into that case and started every day with two glasses of whiskey. Sighing he took his cup to the little kitchen and decanted his coffee into a travel mug. At this rate Sam was going to drive him to drink with all this supernatural nonsense again. 

 

*  
 _June 26th_

Matthew Cullen woke in a dark dank cell chained to wall by his wrists. It had been some hours since he had been dragged here and only now had he started to come to. Opening his eyes slowly all he saw was an inky blackness, and he pulled his arms forward only to find them bound. It was then the panic set in. How had he gotten here?   
_Think, Matthew...I was at the house with McCann and we went into the basement….._

That’s all he could recall.

Boots echoed on the stone floor, slowly growing louder as someone drew closer to his cell. “Looks like you’re awake.” Matthew squinted as he tried to see through the darkness. A singular match brought a little light and gave Matthew a glimpse at the figure shrouded in the shadows. The tip of a cigarette glowed dim as the small flickering flame shared its warmth, and in the brief window of light Matthew caught a glimpse of golden eyes watching him hungrily. 

_“Who are you? What are you?”_ Matthew demanded, tugging at the shackles.

“I am Bartholomew Bogue and I am more than you’ll ever understand, boy.” Bogue blew a plume of smoke into Matthew’s small cell. “Don’t suppose you’ll be getting out.

“You’ll be the last one to die.” He gestured to the pens behind him. “The shining example of Chisolm’s little army. You get to watch them all die.” 

Matthew struggled against his chains. “You won’t get away with this!” 

“Oh but I already have.” The dim light from the cigarette flickered and made Bogue’s white toothed smile even more sinister “I’ve been doing this for a long time.” 

*  
 _July 1st_

Sam’s office had succumbed to an awkward silence. Goodnight and Billy had arrived just as the trio of paranormal hunters were about to leave. “Sam, really? You honestly think this is necessary?”

“Goody, you can’t deny that this case is the same-“

“For Christ’s sake. Yes I see the similarities but ghost hunters?” Goodnight frowned at the trio who suddenly found themselves like children awkwardly placed in a argument between parents. 

“They can help. We might have missed something - I think..someone is tampering with reports from within the station.” The Cajun grumbled eyeing up the youngsters Sam had collared. How much help could these supernatural _experts_ be of any use? But it was up to Sam how he handled this case, Goodnight was handling it differently for Emma.

“perhaps you give us a chance eh amiigo?” Vasquez finally spoke up between the arguing men. “We’re not completely ghost hunters. We deal with supernatural mysteries, conspiracies-”

“You’re not making this any better son.” Goodnight huffed folding his arms across his chest “You can’t expect me to place the lives of missing people in the hands of ghost hunters.” 

“We ain’t askin’ you to” Faraday chipped in “we ain’t here to find missing people, we were asked to investigate this Bogue fella.” 

“guero, you’re not making this any easier.” 

Billy and Red had been the quietest out of the groups. Apparently both of them were used to dealing with their groups stubbornness and stood waiting out the storm. 

“Goody, this isn’t our place.” Billy reminded “they’re not going to intervene with our work but perhaps they do find something surely you wouldn’t turn them away” Goodnight huffed again, Billy was right but he didn’t want to admit that in front of Sam or this new group. An elbow from Billy singalled the older man to finally make formal introductions. 

“I suppose it’s in good manners to introduce ourselves should we meet again. Goodnight Robicheaux and this is my partner Billy Rocks we’re private detectives.” Goodnight put on his calm and professional work face. 

“Vasquez.” the apparent head of the group started holding out a hand for Goodnight to shake, which he did almost reluctantly. “this is Joshua Faraday and Red Harvest-”

“Together we are the Trees Amigos” Faraday interrupted loudly, Goodnight thought he might break out into a song and dance the way he jumped out of his seat. 

“Tres, guero, not trees.” Vasquez corrected with a sigh,

“Is there anything you can tell us about Bogue before we go?” Red Harvest asked, a sensible question Goodnight thought, “just so we know what is already known.” Goodnight nodded. Billy didn’t have much to offer in this department,

“Sam? Is Cass still here?” Billy questioned, 

“She is but she’ll be heading home soon since she came in early.” Billy excused himself and headed off to find his fiance. 

 

*

Cassandra had just been coming out of the archives when she spotted Billy walking past the corridor. “BILLY!” she hollered running down the hall, Billy almost skidded back into view at the end of the hall as he heard her shout. She wrapped her arms around his chest burying her face into his chest taking in the scent of his aftershave. These past few days it felt like they had barely seen one another. “I’m heading home now. Sam insisted I go early since I came in so early this morning.” 

Billy nodded holding her tightly “Go rest ” he mumbled into her hair “Don’t forget to eat.” he added as she looked up at him with a tired grin

“I will, honest.” 

“I’ll be back late. I’m researching something for Sam. So don’t worry about cooking.” They shared a smile and a quick kiss. 

“Billy!” Goodnight appeared into view and walked to meet the pair “How are you fairing Cassandra dear?”

“I’m okay, tired but I’ll manage.” Cassandra wanted Billy to come home with her but needs must. “both of you remember to eat please.” They finally parted and Cassandra waved them off with a smile before she headed off home. 

 

*  
“Cass, I’m home!” Billy called as he took his shoes off in the hall. The house was dark, but that wasn’t unusual for Cass who often forgot to turn the lights on if she was absorbed in work. The pitter-patter of paws rushed towards Billy as he switched on the living room lights. 

“Hey, Archie, is Cass home?” The corgi whined and rested his head on Billy’s knees. “She’s not?” He moved to pick up the small loaf dog but Archie scurried off barking. Billy headed into the living room and found the little note on the coffee table -gone to the station- Billy frowned: Cass would never just leave a note. She always messaged and her handwriting wasn’t as neat as normal. He sat down on the sofa, Archie at his feet, tugging at the bottom of his trousers.  
“In a moment, Archie.” The corgi whined as he was brushed away. 

Billy dialled his fiancée to see where she was.  
 _Answer phone._  
He left it for a few minutes before trying again. “Cass-“  
 _You’ve reached…_  
He called the station, hoping that someone would be able to soothe his frantic nerves. Archie barked and tugged once more at Billy’s trousers. Billy hushed the dog as he tried to listen to the officer on the other end. 

_“Cassandra? She left early, didn’t she?”_ The officer on the phone shouted to some others nearby. _“Yeah man, she definitely left.”_

‘Thanks.” The officer hung up, leaving Billy feeling hollow and worried. He stared at the phone without blinking as Archie whined and placed a paw on his shaking hand. “Cass...where did you go?” Archie leapt from his lap and ran over to the door barking.

Billy felt sick to his stomach. He gripped the phone so tightly to the point it might crack under the weight of his worry. Pulling his hair out of the hair tie he shook it free and ran a weary hand through it, at a loss what to do. Was she hurt? In danger? Maybe she had just gone shopping...but without her car?

A sharp bark snapped him out of visualising the various worst-case scenarios: Archie was still in the doorway barking. He left the room and poked his head back in: did he want Billy to follow him?

Billy followed Archie up the stairs to their bedroom. Archie sat next to a gun lying next to the large wardrobe they shared. Kneeling down to inspect the item he noticed flecks of blood on it. If he wasn’t worried before he certainly was now. “Archie, what happened? Where’s Cass?” Archie barked and scratched at the wardrobe. Throwing open the wooden doors he saw nothing, but Archie barked and tried to jump into the wardrobe. Billy curiously lifted him in, then pushed the clothes to one side and watched the little dog scratch at the back of the unit. 

“Archimedes.. there isn’t...wait-“ Billy frowned and leaned in, rubbing his hand over the back of the wood: there was something, barely visible - flecks of blood and the faint smell of sulphur. 

 

A rough tongue glided over his knuckles and Archie whined, setting a paw on his hand.   
“She’s strong...she’ll be fine..I need to call Goody.” He smiled weakly at the corgi who stayed very close to Billy at all times. Billy was his best friend after all. 

“Goody…” his voice wavered with worry, it hurt to admit that his light was gone and he didn’t know what to do “Goody, Cass..is gone...I called the station. I found blood on her gun..Goody..what do I do?..”

_“Stay put, Billy, I’m on my way.”_

-

 

Goodnight was tired. This case was taking a lot out of him mentally and physically. If it had just been a missing persons case it would have been so much easier but because of Sam’s insistence that it was Bogue and it was linked to the incident with his family, it was just making it so frustrating. 

His mama would be furious if she saw him eating a ready meal but he was tired and cooking did not appeal to him at all. Goodnight sighed as he tasted the poor excuse for a stew, it was salty, too salty but he had to eat something. Once the pots were cleaned, Goodnight headed up to clean himself. 

“Good lord, I smell horrific.” he grimaced chucking his clothes into the wicker wash basket. He let the water run hot before he stepped into the shower letting the warm water run over him and wash away the stress of today’s work. “It’ll be alright.” he mumbled watching the water run down the plug. 

Rubbing the water out of his eyes Goodnight looked at his hands in shock. They were covered in blood. Was he bleeding? Panicking he checked his head for a possible wound. Nothing. Goodnight felt his chest tightening and it was so hard to breath. Fumbling for the shower dial as he slowly sank to his knees. The bathroom was considerably steamed up clouding Goodnight’s view and made him panic more.   
Through the steam a shadow formed by the door. 

“Who's there!” he shouted but the figure vanished. Closing his bright blue eyes Goodnight willed himself up onto his feet finally switching the shower off. He grabbed a bathrobe and exited his bathroom. He tore through the house checking all the rooms but no one was here there were no signs of a break in either. 

“Jesus wept. I must be losing my mind.” Goodnight sighed slumping down into an armchair still dripping with water. The sound of his cell phone ringing broke the silence that had engulfed the room. 

“Billy?”

The sound of Billy panicking raised concerns with Goodnight instantly and when he understood the reason for his partner’s worry the old detective felt physically sick. Hanging up Goodnight stared down at the phone, no this couldn’t be happening. “No..oh lord…” He dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. “Sam, Cassandra is missing….I’m heading there now.”

Goodnight moved from his chair and grabbed his keys off the hook, his hand stopped on the door handle. Cursing, Goodnight ran as fast as his aging knees could up the stairs to quickly dry and change into something more appropriate before leaving the house.

*  
The pair rushed to Billy’s house finding him very highly strung with Archie at his side at all times. The two older gentlemen investigated the bedroom first, where Billy had taken the clothes out of the wardrobe so they could see the blood better. Sam pulled a little dark light out of his jacket pocket, scanning the light over the wardrobe. “There..” he pointed to a strange cluster of blood splatters. “Looks like a symbol.”

“It’s just blood, Sam.” Sam took a photo of it and sent it to the investigators. “I still think you’re clutching at straws,” huffed Goodnight, turning his attention to Billy who had barely spoken a word. He was sat on the edge of the bed with the corgi on his lap, resting his head on the quiet man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Billy we’ll find her. Do you want to come stay at mine?” 

Billy shook his head. “What if she comes home and I’m not here?” 

 

It was killing Goody to see Billy like this. He was like a son to him and now it was more important than ever to find the missing officers. Goodnight had to yield to Sam’s obsession. This was all too coincidental. “Allright Sam, I’ll play ball. We need all the help we can get.”


	6. How Little We Know

_June 27th_

It felt like an eternity since Matthew had been caught by Bogue. His mouth was dry and his whole body ache from struggling at the chains. From the darkness Matthew could hear the sound of something being dragged across the cold stone floor accompanied by the quiet clink of boots. Two figures appeared before Matthew’s prison this time he knew one of them well. 

“Surprised to see me Matthew?” McCann grinned at his fellow officer of the law who was frowning at him. “Woah, I didn’t know you could make a face like like.” McCann laughed loudly “Look we brought you a friend.” with the gilb of a magician revealing the surprised under the cloth, McCann pulled the burlap sack from the strange lump by his leg. An older police officer.

“Hank?”  
He didn’t reply. The man was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a wound on his brow. “HANK!” Matthew struggled against his binds, shouting and trying to cause as much noise as possible. A strong sturdy hand pressed down on Matthew’s shoulder. Glancing up Denali was just visible in the dim light and he didn’t even blink as his other hand grasped Matthew’s upper arm pulling it out of it’s socket with a loud pop. Matthew cried out in pain and hung his head as the pain washed over him.

“That’s what you get for causing a fuss.” McCann mused as he dragged the unconscious officer down out of Matthew’s blurred view.

*  
 _July 2nd_

Goodnight’s office had become the hub of the investigation, since Sam no longer felt safe in his own. After Cassandra’s report had mentioned about things being tampered with. A hastily put together cork board stood across one side of Goodnight Robicheaux’s usually very organized office. 

“Alright we need a plan-“ Sam was interrupted which seemed to becoming a daily occurrence these days. The door to Goodnight’s office opened and closed quickly. “Emma..” Matthew’s red headed wife stood near the door with her coat draped over her arm and a shopping bag in her free hand. 

Emma did not look happy to see Sam either. “I called Mrs Cullen.” Goodnight admitted. “She deserves to know everything Sam. She contacted me for help and I agreed. We need all the hands we can muster.” 

“Sam.” She greeted coldly and eyed up the men she didn’t know “Where’s Teddy?” Emma’s brow furrowed further when she noticed the knowing glances between the group. “Sam, where is he?” Emma knew Teddy was working on Matthew’s case so it was strange that he wasn’t present.

“He’s gone.” Sam explained meeting Emma’s angry stare. Strangely Emma didn’t say a word. Her anger had gone beyond words. She dropped her coat on the floor and rummage around in the shopping back pulling out a metal case. Setting it down on the floor she popped it open and took out the handgun that sat nestled safety in a bed of foam. “Emma..where did you get that?”

Emma loaded the gun and placed the other parts back in the bag “You apparently cannot do your job Sam. I’ll find Matthew and Teddy myself!” She half shouted at him, any faith she had in Sam was now long gone “What else haven’t you told me?!” 

“Emma please-“

“No! I’ll do this myself.Cassandra said someone called McCann was a suspect then why isn’t he in custody? Or interrogated?! I’ll get answers out of him myself” the whole room moved to stop Emma before she went to shoot someone. Faraday was quickest grabbing her wrist roughly only to be punched with her free hand. Vasquez is the one to lift Emma completely off the floor and carries her to the sofa seating her between himself and Red Harvest. These past few days had been difficult for Emma and she had done so well to stay this level headed until now. Sam had to swallow his pride and apologised to her and explained to her everything he had kept hidden from her. 

“Cassandra too?” Sam nodded, Emma looked past Sam to Billy who seemed even quieter than normal if that was even possible. “I want to help”

“No. I can’t put you in any danger-“

“Sam Chisolm. It seems that I’m not entirely safe at the moment anyway. All the people that have vanished have one main connection. You.” Those were the words Sam didn't really want to hear. “So I’ll be helping whether you want me too or not.’

“Feisty.” Vasquez mumbled to Faraday who nodded in agreement. 

“Very well. Goody-“ Sam turned to Goodnight who had stayed somewhat silent forcing Sam to admit personally to Emma that he hadn’t told her everything “You’re the best.’ Goodnight rose from his leather armchair and glanced at the board.

“First things first. We need to look at all the evidence. Sam has some surveillance footage we think might have been tampered with, us old folk aren’t too savvy with these modern tapes”

“Red is pretty good with those sort of things.” Faraday announced, volunteering Red for the job.

“Next we need to look at our suspects. Which is Thomas McCann and Bogue. With the nature of the case confronting both of them might not yield the desired results. We’ll need to dig a little deeper without raising too much suspicion.”

Faraday and Vasquez would investigate Bogue. Looking at his history and going through all the data they could find on him. Emma would be helping Sam with investigating McCann and Goodnight and Billy were in charge of going through the material they already had.

-

 

*  
 _July 1st_

Matthew had the displeasure of seeing McCann again. He was losing all hope. He could hear the screams of Teddy and Hank somewhere in the darkness, it was killing him to not be able to save them who knows what sort of torture they were being subjected to. 

“Got you another friend. Aren’t I nice?” McCann mused throwing the person he had been dragging to the floor. “She put up a fight, bitch shot me.” he crouched down to stub his cigarette out on her hand before grabbing her ankle and dragging her down towards the cells. 

*  
 _July 2nd_

It was almost midnight. Red Harvest had spent the remaining of the day clued to his computer screen going through the reels of footage, piecing it all back together. He had started with the most recent disappearance Teddy’s since it had been at the headquarters. The footage had been tampered with but it was salvageable with the correct software and knowhow. 

“Guys! I fixed the footage!” Faraday and Vasquez bolted over to him tripping over several piles of books and equipment that was stacked around the cluttered living room of their apartment.   
They watched the series of events unfold not the little screen, paling at the new found knowledge. 

“We need to go see Sam now.” Vasquez said grabbing his phone to call their current employer. Strangely enough Sam was still awake and was still at Goodnight’s office. Vasquez hung up and chucked the van keys to Faraday “you’re driving güero.” The three of them headed to Goodnight’s office where they were still pouring over pages of documents.

Sam was equally as disturbed by the CCTV footage. It showed exactly what happened to Teddy the night he went missing. The group watched in silence as they witnessed McCann entering Teddy’s office and the darkness seemingly reaching around and pulling Teddy into the shadows. 

 

Billy moved from his chair and grabbed his jacket. “Billy, where are you going?”  
“I need to find her.. Goody whatever that was came into my home and took Cass.” Goody could tell billy was upset, he handled his emotions well so it was difficult to tell when he was upset. “She could be hurt...or-“

Goodnight hugged Billy “hush, don't’ worry son it’ll be alright. We’ll find her. Cassandra’s strong she’ll be giving them hell.” Those words didn’t soothe Billy’s worried and anxious heart.

“We have proof that McCann had a hand in this. I’ll put out a warrant on his arrest.” Sam announced finding himself a little more alert now, things were progressing. 

“Can I send this to a religious cult professor? There’s a few things I’d like him to look at a few things.” Red Harvest asked glancing up from his screen getting an approving nod from Sam “Jack Horne was a priest and he has great knowledge in religious cults, texts and symbols.”

“Everyone get some rest, we’ll reconvene in the morning” Goodnight knew they would be no good on zero sleep. “That includes you Billy and no you cannot just drink more coffee.” Billy was worried how could he not be, just meant Goodnight had to remind him to eat and sleep. 

-  
 _July 1st_

It had been a long day for Cassandra, she had finally gotten a chance to go home but she was still hard at work. She had managed to take time to eat and take a quick shower, after being awake for so long she felt quite rancid. Making a pot of coffee Cassandra moved to the living room and syked herself up for more work. Archimedes hopped onto the sofa to provide her with company. She had been at it for what felt like hours, the black printed letters started to dance and blur across the page. Archie’s bark jolted her out of her daze. He had leapt from the sofa and stood growling at the doorway. 

“What’s up?” she moved from the sofa and peered out into the dark corridor. She could see nothing in the darkness, rummaging around she flicked the switches on. “Still nothing Archie.” the corgi still growled. Cassandra yawned and ran a hand through her hair “We’re both tired come on boy.” Archie turned his growl to behind his owner moving so he was between her and the intruder. Cass turned and jumped “McCann?” she frowned and backed off slightly “how did you get in?”

“Nice place you got here.” He hummed glancing around her living room as he slowly advanced towards her.

Cassandra scooped up her dog and ran down the corridor towards the garage door, there was another shadow cast on her wall. Someone else was here too. Turning on her heels and shoving McCann back into the living room with Archie still under her other arm, she ran up the stairs locking herself in her bedroom. Setting Archimedes down she grabbed her gun from the belt that hung over a chair. “Archie get under the bed.” the dog whined as she ushered him under. “You have to be here for Billy.” 

The door unlocked itself and slowly opened. McCann’s smug face turned to pure anger when a bullet was fired straight into his shoulder, “get out of my house you weasly little bitch” Cassandra snarled. 

“Fine but you’re coming with us.” 

The doors to her wardrobe sung open loudly and a strange darkness leaked out like black water. No matter how far she moved away it chased her until it caught her and dragged her with an shakable grip into the wardrobe. Several shots were fired into the darkness but it seemed to just absorb the bullets. A figure grew out of the inky blackness and loomed over the much shorter Cassandra. He tore the gun from her hand and punched her in the stomach sending her crashing to the floor. The moment she hit the floor the shadows took on the form of quicksand and started to pull her in. She struggled and tried to claw her way out but it was hopeless. 

Archie whined and cowered under his precious friends bed as she vanished into the darkness the two men disappearing with the shadows.


	7. My Shining hour

_July 3_

 

McCann stood in the breakroom at the station. Everything was going according to plan: his boss had the wayward souls he desired and soon he would get the reward he was promised. He overheard a murmur from passing officers about how Sam looked rather angry this morning.   
“Fool,” McCann mused, sipping his coffee smugly. 

“Morning, boss,” he said aloud,trying to act calm as Sam himself appeared in the doorway. 

Sam strode across the room and standing toe to toe with McCann grabbed his wrist to slap a handcuff on him.“Thomas McCann you are under arrest.-”

“What?! Hey!” McCann looked up at Sam with a confused smirk tugging at his lips.

“Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police-”

“Come on boss…what did I do?”

“and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish.” 

McCann could see the strange smug happiness in Sam’s eye as he grabbed his other wrist, pulled it behind his back and shackled his hands together before leading him out of the staff room and parading him down the corridors to the holding cells.

He laid on the uncomfortable bench in his cell staring up at the ceiling. 

There was a strange shift in the atmosphere, the air grew warm and the sent of opium flowed with it. “What on earth are you doing?” 

McCann sat up on the bench and looked out past the bars. Bogue his employer stood outside his cell, the man guarding him was fast asleep while still on his feet. “Well, I was arrested. You’re here to get me out, right?” McCann waited for Bogue to say or do anything. “Boss?”

“You’ve become a liability.” Bogue took another drag of his cigarette and turned his back on McCann “Mr Denali will deal with you.” and he walked away from the cell ignoring McCann’s shouts and pleas. 

McCann didn’t need to look behind him: he could feel the air growing bitterly cold and the shadows shifted around him. He knew what loomed behind him and only death waited him now. Escape was futile. He had seen Denali hunt. Quick and deadly as a wolf, he watched quietly and moved as silent as the shadows and his prey never knew what hit them.   
“Boss come on.” McCann grabbed at the bars “They don’t know anything. They can’t prove nothing-“  
The sickened sound of an axe lodging itself into McCann’s neck echoed through the corridor but nobody heard or saw anything. 

*

 

Red Harvest had gone to pick up the religious cult expert from the airport; Professor Jack Horne had flown in after hearing about the case and seeing the pictures. Apparently he thought it was serious enough that it couldn’t be discussed over the internet and had caught the first flight that morning. 

A new task had been set for the others, researching Bogue in even more detail. Faraday was confined to the archives in a private room of the public library while Vasquez was mulling over properties that Bogue had and currently owned. 

Faraday yawned loudly and rubbed at his stinging eyes: he hated these old archive viewers, they clicked loudly and gave him such an upset stomach. He had been sat in front of this god forsaken monitor for what seemed like an eternity, a pen and paper beside him with poorly drawn doodles decorating the lines and some words scrawled between. He tapped his ballpoint pen to the beat of the song playing through his headphones. 

Suddenly two heavy hands clamped down on his shoulders, making his poor heart skip a beat. Yanking the headphones down around his neck he glanced up at the tall Mexican who grinned broadly at him. “Fucking bas-“

“What have you found, güero? Or were you too busy having a siesta, eh?” Vasquez was the brother Faraday didn’t want and couldn’t get rid of but he’d be lost without him sometimes. The Irishman yawned again, stretching his arms above his head.

“I can tell you that there’s been some weird shit where this Bogue is concerned.” Another loud yawn, Vasquez teased if he opened his mouth any wider he’d swallow the earth. “Shut up. Anyway over the past decade or something, there’s string of missing people followed by murders.”

“Same Bogue?” 

Faraday shrugged. “It can’t be. That’d put him, what, well over… a hundred..unless he was a vampire,” he joked. 

Faraday noticed Vasquez had fallen strangely silent, his mouth opened in revelation, piecing together what they had that theory wasn’t completely dismissable. “Find his family tree.” 

That was easier said than done but with Faraday calling in a few favours in certain departments they had the results within a few hours.

“This can’t be right? “Unless this family only calls its boys Bartholomew...then this family tree stopped around 1820,” Faraday hummed, tracing his finger across the piece of paper up to one Bartholomew Bogue. 

“I think your vampire theory is starting to look more plausible güero.” 

Faraday laughed loudly “I was joking! There’s no way...is there? Come on. We can’t go to Sam and be like ‘Hey that guy is a vampire, surprise!’” 

 

_July 2nd_

From the confines of his cage all Matthew could see were faint shapes moving in the darkness, but the voice screaming and begging for mercy he recognised as Hank. Matthew cringed at the sound of bones being broken with what he suspected was a metal pipe. The pain he could feel from his voice alone made him move and shout. “Leave him alone!” His voice didn’t reach any further than the bars of his cage. His throat was so sore it hurt to whisper let alone shout. When was the last time he had had a proper drink of water? McCann came in every once in a while to feed him though he simply poured the water over his head like he was watering a plant and set the food down just slightly out of his reach and watched him struggle towards the food.

He wanted to help but what could he do? Matthew never saw what became of Hank, he only heard the tortured cries that seemed to last hours until they were swallowed by the darkness. Matthew had to admit Hank was probably dead now but at least he was no longer in pain. He whispered a prayer for Hank.

 

_July 3rd_

Sam had been pulled from his meeting with Goodnight about how to go about questioning Bogue by an officer running into his office: Thomas McCann was dead, killed in his cell. Their number one suspect, dead. “What how?! How could someone walk right in there and kill a suspect without being seen?!” Sam’s patience had snapped and his rise in volume was a product of that. The officer offered him no reasonable explanation and claimed the cctv seemed to have malfunctioned too. “Get out.” he snapped at the officer who nodded and quickly vacated the office before being shouted at again. “How is he doing it? right under my nose. In my station. How is this happening?!” They headed down to the crime scene.

“What do we do?”

“We have to move quickly. If McCann was indeed part of this plot it means he had outlived his usefulness and that puts our missing ones at a greater risk.” Goodnight stood at Sam’s side watching as the officers documented the scene. 

Sam’s phone rang, drawing his attention away from Goodnight: Red had arrived with the professor. “Let’s head back to my office and we’ll see what this professor has to offer.”

-

 

The professor wasn’t what they had expected: he was old, well past the point of greying, a good beard, dressed in a simple cotton shirt and trousers. Though he gave off a stern grandfatherly vibe his voice, quiet and high, didn’t match his appearance. 

“Professor Jack Horne. Nice to meet you,” he introduced himself, taking the hat off his head when everyone had finally arrived. “I teach theology and have studied religious cults for many years. I hope I can be of some help.” 

Everyone was quickly introduced and brought Jack up to speed with their knowledge before they started adding their latest finds. Joshua took the stand first, mostly to get his part done with quickly. 

“So, I traced back Bogue’s name and found the first Bartholomew Bogue. Born March 17th 1818, in Atlanta, Georgia, he had a wife Margaret and a son William. The wife and son were found horribly mutilated in their family home. According to the newspaper article it was an Indian attack but I think it was foul play. The next we hear of Bartholomew Bogue is in 1880 at the time of another gruesome murder: the Frankel family went missing for two weeks and were discovered dead in a corn field. Their boy’s body was never found but there was another found, the local Sheriff. Except he wasn’t dead.”

“Then he could have pressed charges,” Goodnight interjected.

Faraday nodded and looked back down at his clipboard. “He could have, if he hadn’t been admitted to the loony bin.”

“Crazy?”

“Apparently he harped on about a shapeless demon living in Bogue’s house and there being some secret underground torture chamber beneath his house. It was checked out by the law enforcement-”

“and they didn’t find anything,” Sam finished, frowning; that was exactly what had happened last time.

“Not a damn thing.” Faraday took a drag of his cigarette and let Vasquez take over, his throat dry from all the talking. 

“The next set of murders were 1874-” Faraday quickly corrected him - “that's a five? Guero, your handwriting is awful. 1875. Two local boys, Dicky and Earl, go missing on a hunting trip. Looks like they strayed too far and wound up on the property of one Bartholomew Bogue. A week or so later their bodies turn up so mutilated their own mama could barely recognize them - only knew it was them because Earl had a piece of his ear missing. During the search they checked out Bogue’s house and every acre of his land and found nothing.”

“Where were the bodies found?” Goodnight asked trying to figure out a pattern or clue that might help them locate the missing officers. 

“In the family barn, just in a heap in the middle of it.” Vasquez squinted at the paper and flicked through the next few pages growling at Faraday for his atrocious penmanship. “There were two more incidents where Bogue is mentioned. The death of the Pigeon brothers in 1990 looks like they tried to swindle money from Bogue and conveniently went missing: they wound up being pulled out of the bay.”

“I remember that. It was headlines for at least a week.” Jack hummed, pushing his tiny reading glasses up his nose. 

“The next was 1999. Father and son, Josiah and Anthony. They simply went missing for at least three weeks. Nobody knew who murdered them or when they went missing exactly, but the house they rented was owned by one Bartholomew Bogue.”

“And then my family.” Sam mumbled, looking up at the sloppily put together pinboard in Goodnight’s office. “But if this is the same man each time, how is that possible?” He waved off Faraday’s seemingly stupid comment about vampires. 

Jack cleared his throat and brought his own research to the floor, letting Vasquez take his chair as he pinned a few documents to the board. “I looked into the symbol you found at Billy’s home and found that it was also present in Matthew’s car and in Teddy’s office.” Jack pointed to the strange symbol. “I would like to point out that the chance of Bogue being a vampire is rather slim; however I am convinced that he is probably not human.” 

The room had fallen deadly silent, was this old man off his rocker? “Now you-all might not believe in God, but I do and where there is good and light there is also darkness. This symbol is commonly used in a lot of satanic rituals but I believe it was used as a red herren. Something simply used to blind us to the truth. But I do believe Bogue sold his soul to a demon many years ago.”

“A demon?” Sam was starting to question his own sanity at this point. “Not the devil?”

“It would be rare for the devil himself to appear: he probably had an advocate to connect Bogue.”

“An avocado?” Faraday frowned, he had dozed off for a brief second and rejoined the conversation dazed.

“Advocate, lackey, middle man.” Vasquez quickly corrected sighing at this idiot of a friend.

Jack nodded seriously. “Just as God has angels to communicate to us, the devil has legions of demons at his disposal.” 

Goodnight couldn’t believe what he was listening to. He was ready to believe that Bogue was behind all this, but the concept that Bogue was not human was a foolish notion. He needed to find Cassandra for Billy’s sake.


	8. Not so long ago

_“There wasn’t just one murder. There were a few and none of them pretty.”_

_1880_

 

“Please. Mr Bogue, I swear...it was an accident.” The small rotund sheriff quivered before the black ebony wood desk of Bartholomew Bogue who lit a cigarette and watched the tip of it catch and smoulder before casting his cold unfeeling gaze upon the sheriff. The sheriff swallowed the lump in his throat and averted his eyes, staring down at the worn leather hat gripped nervously in his sweaty hands. It wasn’t his fault. It had happened all so quickly. 

“An accident you say?” Bogue tilted his head back a little as he spoke calmly, watching the smoke floating up into the air. 

“Yes, sir.” The sheriff stood up straight and tried to calm his nerves but Bogue’s glare was too much and his eyes shot back down to the floor. “Mister Bogue. I know your upset but-” he flinched as Bogue’s hand slammed against the table’s surface. “M-Mister Bogue-”

“Breaking a glass is an accident: what you did was a mistake.” Bogue inhaled sharply and bit down on his cigarette to hold it in place. Rising to his full stature he smoothed back his greasy hair and calmly sat back in his leather chair, which creaked under his weight. “Mister Denali.” 

The sheriff jumped, taking a few clumsy steps away from the towering Indian who appeared at his side seemingly from the darkness itself. “Mister Denali, take our Sheriff Harp to the cellar - he needs to pay for his transgressions.” 

“No! Please Mister Bogue! I beg your forgiveness.” The sheriff screamed and fought against the might of the mysterious Denali who calmly dragged him out of the room down the stairs and down into the cellar. 

There was no light, no window and no escape. The air was stagnant and the scent of something rotten lingered in the air. He was dragged through a small room with ropes hanging from the walls and a hole of some kind in the centre. Denali stopped at a wooden door: he didn’t reach up to open it, but the door unlocked itself and swung open onto a corridor lined with bars, forming individual pens. The sheriff picked up the sound of another voice, screaming and crying to be freed. One pen swung open and the sheriff was tossed in. The cage locked and the last thing the Sheriff saw of Denali was his eyes flashing golden as the towering man faded into the darkness. 

“Sheriff Harp?” The older man squinted in the dark and gripped onto cold metal bars that were rough with rust, trying to get a better look at the cells across from him. He could just make out a figure in the pen. “It’s Caleb.”

“Caleb?... Caleb Frankel? Son, what on earth are you doing down here?”

“We wouldn’t sell our land to Bogue. One night we were taken from our beds and then we woke up here.” Caleb sounded worn and afraid, but he rattled the metal bars of his prison angrily “Sheriff, they took my boy. He was a just a babe. They took him! I couldn’t do anything. Took him first and then Leni...I heard her screaming in pain.” Sorrow overcame Caleb and his tears and grief echoed through the seemingly endless corridor. 

Nothing Harp could say would make anything better. But now he knew for certain: they were going to die down here.

-  
 _July 4th_

“Does this man own like half the city or something?” asked Faraday as they placed pins on a map of the city laid across Goodnight’s office table. 

When they finally had a chance to regroup it was late in the afternoon, and the group had decided to stay through the night in Goodnight’s office, since a death in the station and a suspect no less had caused many problems for Sam. They pooled their efforts and focused on investigating any property directly owned or on the land that was coincidentally owned by Bogue. 

There was a lot more than they had assumed. “How does someone own this much land?” 

“He probably cheated or stole all of this.” Sam retorted sternly, looking up over his own glasses. “We’ll have to split into groups to cover it all.” He looked up at his team. “Goody, you and Billy will take the east. You three take the west. Jack and I will take the northern parts and Emma, I need you to stay-” 

Emma almost sent her chair flying at she bolted up. “You will not leave me behind, Sam Chisolm!” she snapped, her fists clenching in anger. “I will not sit and wait.” 

Jack set a calming hand on Emma’s shoulder. “Why doesn’t Mrs Cullen take my place?” he proposed. “I’m old and won’t be as quick as you youngsters. I can stay behind and man the office and read over our notes in case we missed something, and I can mark off the areas we’ve tried.”

Sam nodded, not wanting to anger Emma further, even though it would be in her best interest to stay out of danger. 

Grabbing their coats and keys the group headed out into the fresh morning air with their lists; they didn’t know what they were going to find but they needed something, and quickly. 

_July 5th_

Goodnight looked up from the carefully folded map in his hands and noticed they were heading away from their destination. “Billy, son. Don’t want to alarm you but you’re driving the wrong way.”

“I need to go pick Archie up.” Billy stated, indicating to turn left at a junction. “I can’t leave him alone too long and he can help find Cass.” Goodnight nodded; Cassandra’s absence was taking its toll on Billy. They drove up to their house and Goodnight waited in the car as Billy headed up the driveway. He looked over the map again - they had four houses to check out, all within a block or two of each other. 

“Good grief.” He sighed and stifled a yawn. Neither Billy nor he had slept much since the whole thing began and tiredness was slowly creeping up on him. His eyes felt so heavy and it was painful to try to keep them open. 

The sound of the car door opening and the sudden weight from someone climbing in jolted him awake again. “Billy-” His words trailed off finding nobody was in the seat beside him, then out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone sat in the back seat. “I need you to get out the car, sir.” 

“Detective Robicheaux.” 

Goodnight’s blood ran cold as he looked in the rearview mirror and but a face to the familiar voice. “Bogue.”

The back seat was strangely shrouded in shadows but Bogue’s face was just visible. “Still playing the detective? Hasn’t this gone on long enough? Being at Chisolm’s beck and call? Like some mongrel?” The smell of cigarettes filled the car but something else was being masked under that odour. “Could have been so much more if he hadn’t dragged you down with him”

“I reckon you need to leave,” Goodnight sneered, maintaining eye contact with Bogue via the mirror. “You’ll be brought to justice this time.”

“Will I?” Goodnight could see the smirk on Bogue’s lips. “You can’t do anything. You can’t save them or yourself.” 

The car started to fill with a thick black liquid, it poured out of the grills of the air conditioning and seeped out of the glove compartment. It flooded the car quickly like a dam that had brust. Goodnight reached for the handle but it was locked. Bogue seemed unfazed by the liquid pooling at his feet and calmly watched Goodnight struggle as the liquid rose up around him. 

The car door opened and a small corgi jumped in and onto Goodnight’s lap jolting him awake, his face dripping in sweat and his breath ragged. 

“Goody?” Goodnight turned to glance at the backseat but its occupant was gone. “Goody, are you okay?” He turned back to Billy who was back in the driver's seat and looking rather concerned.

“Fine...I just - I must have fallen asleep.” Archimedes barked and sat on Goodnight’s lap. “I had quite the strange dream… It must just be this case though.” Shaking off his concerns, he pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. “Let's go: we have a lot of ground to cover.” Archimedes barked as though in agreement.

 

-

“Is anyone else questioning the chances of us even finding anything?” Faraday asked, opening the van window as he lit a cigarette.

“You’re not a believer yet güero?” Vasquez asked from behind him where he was glancing over the map and the details of the property they were on their way to. 

Faraday snorted, blowing smoke out the window. “Vampires? Really? Ghosts were stupid enough, but a vampire? Has to be a joke.”

“Demons are real,” Red Harvest commented calmly as they pulled up to a prim, well looked after house that belonged, according to the reports, to ‘Ms Sibyl Watson’, though this house seemed far too big for an old lady to be living in alone. Faraday climbed out the van and meandered up the path to the front door. He knocked loudly several times but no one answered, so he glanced around quickly before trying the door, and finding it unlocked he signaled to the others. 

Vasquez and Red grabbed the camera and some flashlights from the van and followed Faraday into the house. It was strange: the outside was well looked after but the interior was as dusty as if no one had lived in here for many years. 

“Look.” Red Harvest was filming as they went and pointed down to the floor where footprints led off further into the home. “Footprints. Two pairs of. Someone was here before”

“Shit...what do we do?” Faraday swallowed nervously; trespassing was an arrestable offence. 

“Go on, güero. We’ll call in if we find something. Could just be kids messing around.” 

They slowly ventured through the house, checking the ground floor first. Other than the footprints there was nothing out of the ordinary in the house. It was Red who noticed that the door knob to the basement was strangely absent of dust and the footprints which led there.

“Of course it’s in the basement.” Faraday whined, reaching gingerly for the brass door handle, only to have Vasquez swear under his breath and pull the door open instead. He shone his torch down into the murky depths. “Hey...I had it.”

“Quiet. Come on.” Vasquez ordered as they slowly descended into the basement, Faraday quietly whining about the possibility of rats. “Cállate,” Vasquez seethed. 

The creaky wooden steps seemed to go on for ages, but at the bottom Vasquez stopped at a large steel door. 

“I think we found our house...that or this old lady was quite the home improver,” Faraday chuckled trying to lighten the mood a little. “Well here we go.”  
Vasquez unbolted the door and pushed it open as quietly as the unoiled hinges allowed.


	9. We Three

_July 5th_

Jack removed his glasses and set them down on the cluttered coffee table. He was tired but he couldn’t rest, not while there was still so much to learn. Sam and Emma had already checked out one building which had been so run down it had been dangerous to stay too long. He reached for the cup of long-cold coffee and was bringing it to his lips when the door handle clicked. The door slowly opened, and Jack couldn’t believe his eyes: standing there was a young woman with curly brown hair wearing a dark green summer dress that he recognised. “Edith?” 

 

 _No. It couldn’t be._ Jack rose from his seat and watched her enter the room, his heart racing as she stopped in front of him.

She smiled at him tenderly and took hold of his hand. “Jack. I’ve missed you.” 

Her smile grew brighter and it made his heart soar like an eagle in the sky. He whispered her name again, reaching to touch her cheek and feeling her warm with life.

“How can you be here?” This was what he always dreamed of, to see his beautiful wife again … but there was no way to bring back the dead. Jack’s heart ached and his eyes brimmed with tears as he sank to the floor in despair. “Edith...I’m sorry, I almost gave into temptation.” 

Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his overwhelming emotions, he reached for the crucifix around his neck with a shaking hand and began to pray. 

“Almighty and everlasting God, I bless you from my heart, that of your infinite goodness you have preserved me this night past-”

He felt the air shift around him, growing cold; the smell of rotting meat filled the air. 

“-And...and have, with the impregnable defence of your providence, protected me from the power and malice of the devil.”  
The shadows beneath them bubbled and twisted from his prayer. Casting his eyes upwards Jack was met with bright yellow eyes and the face of his lover half cast in darkness. This presence shook him to the core but he couldn’t move or run from it. He uttered his prayer more quickly in the hope that it could save him.   
“D-Do not withdraw, I humbly ask you, your protection from me, but mercifully this day watch over me with the eyes of your mercy. Direct my soul and body according to-” An unseen force lifted the professor from the floor with ease and flung him across the room, crashing through Goodnight’s desk like a rag doll.   
“That’s enough, Mr Denali.” Jack scrambled to his feet, clutching his cross tighter as another figure entered the room. He knew this man only from pictures he had seen among the reports.   
“Bogue.”  
“No need to look so angry. I come with a proposition.” Bogue made himself comfortable in the armchair in the corner of the room. The figure of Jack’s wife was gone swallowed up by the darkness which twisted into a new form looming next to Bogue.   
“I will not bargain, demon!” Jack shouted, his love and faith giving him the strength for defiance.  
“You still cling to your faith?” Bogue mused, taking a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaling a thick cloud of foul smelling smoke into the room “After all he took from you?” The smoke took on the forms of people, faces Jack missed dearly. “Your sons and your wife...and yet you still believe.. You could see them again.” The smoke sank to the floor, covering it like water. “Come now. Wouldn’t you like that? To have your little family back. To not be alone.”  
“The dead can not be brought back.” Jack clung stubbornly to what he believed.  
“But didn’t your God bring Jesus back to life?” 

The high pitched ringing of a phone screeched through the office. Jack jolted awake with a strange snort. The office was undamaged, just as Goodnight had left it. “A dream…” Jack stared down at his feet, his body hunkered over, a spine-chilling feeling from the dream he couldn’t shake. He still felt an unsettling presence in the room. 

The phone rang again and gathering his thoughts Jack reached to answer it.

“Hello-” He barely finished his greeting before the panicked voice of Faraday cut him off.

“Jack! Jack we got a problem!”   
*

The group entered the basement. Though it smelt foul and the air was stagnant, unlike the rest of the house it wasn’t covered in dust. There was no lighting down here, and from what they could see with their flashlights the floor and walls were bare stone; it was almost medieval. 

“Shit...what the hell is that?” Faraday shone his flashlight on the strange bundle of ropes suspended before them. Each segment of rope was pulled to a dangerous tightness by a crank on the four corners of the room; underneath was a puddle, fringed by older stains. Faraday peered closer at the strange object. “Red, you getting this ? I think there’s something inside.”

“Yes.” Red Harvest zoomed in on their charismatic frontman who was trying to get closer. 

“What is it? A dog?” Faraday stepped back. “I can’t get a good look: those ropes are too tight.” 

Vasquez hummed, exploring the room further; the darkness seemed to engulf everything around them, their flashlights doing little to penetrate the shadows. His fingers ran across the rigid stone walls, then glided over cold metal bars. He called the others over.

“Hold this,” he said, shoving the torch into Faraday’s hand, and pulled a hairpin from his jacket pocket, unfolding it and inserting it into the rusty metal padlock.

“When you learn to do that?”

“Just picked it up.” The lock snapped open in his palm. “We’re in.” The metal hinged door creaked loudly as Vasquez pulled it open. Cautiously they ventured forth. 

“This place smells like death,” commented Red quietly.

“Red, seriously. Stop. You’re creeping me out.” Faraday whined. Shining the torches around they found themselves in a corridor of cages. “Make sure you’re getting all this,” Faraday urged as they moved further in, checking the cages in case one was open, and Red filmed the corridor and the barren cages. Each cage had shackles hanging from the stone wall that backed them all, and the same dried stain coated the floors and walls.. “What the hell is this place?” 

Vasquez shouted them over to a cage he was looking at. “Oh, shit..is that a person?” 

“Hold this, _andale!”_ Faraday took hold of the torch again as Vasquez picked the lock, clumsy with panic. The door swung open and the person jolted at the noise. “They’re alive!” 

The chains rattled? as Vasquez frantically tried to pick the lock on the shackles, only to have the pin snap off inside the lock. “Red! Bolt cutters! In the van.” Red almost dropped the camera as he turned and bolted back through the weird underground passages. 

Vasquez carefully removed the gag and the blindfold to reveal a pair of tired and very angry blue eyes staring up at them. The pair were shocked to see a woman in this dark hell. “Easy, we’re here to help,” he reassured her. The dim light made it difficult to see the extent of her injures but she had definitely suffered a head wound somewhere with the amount of dried blood on her face. Vasquez reached out to try and check her over for any fresh injuries but she jerked away, snarling a little, clearly in some kind of pain. 

“You’re..not with... him?” she asked quietly her eyes darting around the darkness watching for something or someone. Her body shuddered periodically, the basement wasn’t the warmest place and she was dressed in only a thin t-shirt and shorts. 

“Sam sent us.” Vasquez explained, mimicking her quiet tone. He was uncertain if she was quiet because she was being wary or because her voice was hoarse from an apparent lack of water. 

Faraday frowned: he recognised her face, even though it was covered in dirt and blood. “Ain’t that one of Sam’s missing officers?” Sam had provided pictures of the missing. 

Red stumbled back through the cage, scaring the hell out of him. “Jesus. Red. Bro, don’t do that” he cursed as Red clipped at the shackles that bound her. “Let’s get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.”

“Agreed.” 

Cassandra went to rise to her feet and groaned in pain, doubling over.

“Woah, you okay?” Vasquez went to help but was swatted away. 

“It’s nothing,” she insisted, inhaling sharply as she tried to stand again. 

Red nudged Vasquez and shone the light on her legs, one of which was painfully swollen and heavily bruised. “That’s it, chica.” Vasquez apologised before scooping her up mindful of her leg. Cassandra squirmed in his arms like a snake.

“No. put me down,” she hissed, coughing from slightly raising her voice. “we have to get the others. Teddy and Matthew are-” Her erratic movement made Vasquez drop her with a thud. She yelled out and slowly coiled into a fetal position. “I...have to..the shadows will..”

“Let's get you out of here first. We’ll call for help.” Vasquez reassured her carefully picking her up again. As they started to leave the corridor they felt an eerie presence behind them. They exchanged glances. “Run.” 

Faraday ran in front, opening the doors as they went, then Vasquez carrying their charge and Red holding up the rear, mumbling something under his breath. They didn’t stop running until they ascended the last set of stairs to find the door shut. Faraday turned the handle, but to no effect. 

“Guero, what are you doing?!”

“It’s locked!”

“It can’t be locked! Put some back into it!” Vasquez snapped.

“I’m trying, you dumbass“ Faraday swore as he glanced over his shoulder to see a form at the base of the stairs. It was certainly a person but it seemed to have no solid form. He rammed his shoulder against the locked door repeatedly until it suddenly flung open, sending Faraday falling into the hallway; 

Vasquez almost tripped over his fallen comrade. “Move it, güero!” 

Red slammed the door behind him and jumped over Faraday as he ran towards the front door, practically kicking it open and bolting down the garden path towards their van.

“Wait up!” They all clambered into the van and slammed the doors shut. 

“Güero, ring Sam. Red. Drive. Fast.” Vasquez couldn’t see any fresh wounds but it seemed one wound somewhere had reopened: blood had seeped through her shirt and onto Vasquez’s hand, time was of the essence. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, mumbling about the shadow man and how they had to go get the others, her eyes fighting to stay open. 

He tapped her tear stained cheeks.   
“Hey chica, you gotta stay awake-”

“Cassandra. That’s her name.” Faraday interrupted, rapping his fingers on the dashboard while he waited for Sam to answer the phone. 

“Cassandra. Hey, Cassandra...Cass? Come on, you gotta stay awake. We’re almost there, chica, stay with us.” 

“I’m … awake.” she mumbled in response but it wasn’t long until her body finally gave in and she slumped into unconsciousness..

Red Harvest drove the best out of the trio and knew the quickest route to the hospital without encountering too many red lights; t

They screeched to a halt in the hospital parking lot. Faraday slid open the van door and Vasquez hopped out with the unconscious police officer in his arms. 

He ran straight up to the desk. “We need a doctor, _andale!”_ he half shouted, gesturing with his head to his charge. The receptionist looked between Vasquez and the unconscious woman in his arms and quickly rounded up a trolley to put her on and she was whisked off to be examined, leaving the ghost hunting trio to explain what exactly happened to the best of their ability. 

 

\--  
Billy stormed in like a one-man hurricane, almost forcing the automatic doors open because they were moving too slowly, and stood very out of breath in front of the reception desk, Archimedes tucked under his arm “My..fiancée,” he managed to wheeze out. “Where is she?”

“Sir, you can’t bring a dog in here.” The receptionist’s words were drowned out by his rage and worry. 

“Where is my fiancée? Is she -“ 

“Sir, you need to calm down or I can’t help you.” she spoke a little louder, making Billy suddenly stutter out his words, still frantic. 

“Billy, son, calm down.” Goodnight appeared by Billy’s side and smiled at the unfortunate woman on the desk. “I am sorry about that, miss, he’s just a bundle of worry at the moment. And I can’t say I blame him. Miss Cassandra Elwood. She was brought in around thirty minutes ago.” The woman quickly turned to her screen and punched in the details.

“Miss Elwood has just been taken into surgery. You’ll have to wait, I’m afraid.” She looked between them both cautiously. “Mr Billy Rocks?” Billy nodded, a frown still knitted between his brows. 

“I’m a father figure. Goodnight Robicheaux.” 

“Oh. I do have you on here as a contact. Though..the dog-“

Goodnight ruffled the corgi’s head playfully and flashed his best smile. “He’ll be no trouble. It’s just - Cassandra will be so distraught as it is being in a hospital. She’s not too fond of them.” he added in a whisper. “Archimedes will help calm her down a little. Is there no way?” She sighed 

“I am sorry, sir but we can’t allow pets other than guide dogs in the building. You would need to arrange a visit once the patient is well enough. 

“I can’t argue with that. Come on Archie lets get you back to the car.” Goodnight took the corgi from Billy and headed back out to the car. Billy stood motionless near the front desk until Goodnight returned and guided him into the waiting area.

Vasquez stood up as Billy and Goodnight approached. “they said not to worry...” he said quietly, his voice thick with concern; they’d never been in a situation like this and for once they didn’t really know what they’d gotten themselves into. 

“Though with what we saw I- Ow! What the fuck?!” Vasquez had silenced his fool of a partner with a swift kick to the shin and a dangerous glare. 

 

“Is she alright? What happened?” Billy had so many questions and the thought of not knowing was making him unable to stand still for a moment. 

“Billy, sit down. You’re making me nauseous.” Goodnight forced Billy to sit down on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. 

“She was in pretty bad shape,” Vasquez started “didn’t stop her trying to find the others though.” 

Billy fumbled with his hands anxiously.   
_Of course she put others before her own wellbeing, he thought, remembering how determined she was to help others._

“Where did you find her?” Goodnight asked.

“We found her in a cage,” Faraday answered thoughtlessly, not really knowing any other way of describing it 

“Güero!” Vasquez hissed “you can’t just-“ He groaned and rubbed his forehead, dragging his hand down his face to scratch at his scruffy beard. 

Red Harvest, who had remained just as quiet as Billy, finally spoke up with a little more tact than their flashy and cocky front man. “We found a hidden basement, it led further down and..” He hummed and rubbed a thumb over his wooden bracelet, trying to find the correct words. “It was a chamber”

“Yeah, looked like some weird satanic sort of bullshit-“ Vasquez sighed. One day Faraday would learn not to open his mouth before he thought. 

“There was a corridor behind that room, lined with cages. Like pens.” Red looked up and saw the worry and concern in Goodnight’s bright blue eyes, and glancing past Goodnight he noticed Billy was hunched over still fidgeting with his fingers and his eyes stared down at the white tiles. This waiting was excruciating.

“Mr Rocks?” Billy bolted up from the chair.   
“She’s still sleeping but she is stable.”

“What happened?” Billy finally managed to choke out some words without almost shouting. 

The nurse looked down at the clipboard under her arm. “She had a nasty blow to the head, her left ankle is broken, loss of blood due to several deep lacerations on her torso and dehydration. She is on several antibiotics and a saline drip to help rehydrate her.” The nurse looked up from her board and saw Billy’s worried expression. “Don’t worry, the wounds aren’t life threatening, she should be just fine. Her room is this way.” She smiled warmly at Billy and guided him down the corridor. 

Goodnight headed out to the car to check on the corgi who was sat patiently in the driver's seat. Goodnight sat in the passenger seat and Archimedes jumped onto his lap. 

Archimedes whined as Goodnight sighed deeply, ruffling the small dog’s fur.  
“She’ll be alright, Archie.” Goodnight tried to find comfort and reassurance in his own words too.


	10. The World Is In My Arms

_July 5th_

Billy heard the door close behind him, the room silent save for the beep of the heart monitor. He stood at the foot of the bed, his hands clammy from worry. There she was, his beautiful and fiery fiancé but sleeping..wounded. He moved to sit beside her bed and carefully took her hand in his stroking it softly. 

“Cass. I’m here.” His chest hurt so much, it felt tight and the more he thought of what she had been through the more his chest hurt. “I should have been there for you..” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it as his tears fell.

 

*  
While Goodnight and the ghost hunters sat waiting for news on Cassandra, Goodnight had them call Jack to fill him in. When Sam finally turned up he was as calm as ever. 

“How is she?”

“Stable. They said she should wake up soon.” Goodnight turned to show Sam to Cassandra’s room. “This way.” 

Goodnight led his old friend down the corridors, stopping at a door before knocking quietly and pushing it open. The sight of Billy looking so forlorn killed Goody, he was like a son to him after all but the sight of Cassandra in a hospital bed was just as painful. “How is she, Billy?”

Billy nodded slowly “I should have been there for her.” 

Goodnight patted his shoulder and offered a warm smile. 

“You’re here for her now, that’s what matters.”

Sam was quiet, he was glad to see Cassandra had been found alive but they couldn’t stop now. He cleared his throat to get Goodnight’s attentioned and beckoned him away from Billy’s side “I have a warrant sorted for the property they found Cassandra in and we need to head over,” he explained in a hushed voice.

“Sam, really-”

“It has to be as soon as possible,” Sam added sternly “I still have three other missing officers.”

“Alright,” Goodnight looked at Billy who was scowling at Sam. “Billy?”

“I’m staying here.” he replied curtly, turning his gaze back to Cassandra. “Can Archie come in yet?”

“I’ll have a word with the nurses.” Sam said and left the room. Goodnight sighed: it was always business with Sam – he knew he meant well and just wanted to find the others as soon as he could.

“Call me if anything changes.” Billy nodded again. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.” another silent nod. Billy looked exhausted, he was in need of a shave which just added to his weary look but despite how tired he must be Goodnight barely saw Billy’s gaze wander away from Cassandra. 

Goodnight left the room and found Sam talking with the nurses. 

“They’ve agreed to let the dog in the room. We don’t have any more time to waste.” Sam was already marching down the corridor. Goodnight looked between him and the trio quickly. “I need one of you three to come with us.”

“I’ll go.” Faraday raised his hand like a school kid as he volunteered.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take him to Billy.” Goodnight thanked Vasquez and handed him his car keys before walking briskly to catch up with Sam. 

-

“This doesn’t bode well,” Goodnight hummed as they pulled up outside the house: another car sat at the curb, carrying the registration plate they had looked into already “Looks like Bogue’s already here.” Climbing out the black sedan Goody pulled on his tweed jacket and straightened his tie. Sam had called for a few other officers to meet them there. 

“We have proof, Goody,” Sam started pulling the warrant carefully out of his jacket pocket. “She was found in this house.” 

“That’s what we thought last time.” Goodnight sighed, he felt as though he was running in circles, unable to escape this game of cat and mouse. They walked up the garden path and Sam knocked on the door loudly. It opened as soon as Sam’s knuckles had left the wood. 

“this place still gives me the creeps” Faraday whined quietly looking around the garden cautiously. 

“Mr Chisolm, what a surprise.” Bogue’s greasy little smile filled Sam with anger. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We have a search warrant, Mr Bogue. A young woman was found in the basement of this property earlier today and we need to search the property.” 

“May I see this warrant?” Sam handed over the piece of paper and Bogue glanced over it, then stepped aside willingly to allow them entry.. “Be my guest.” 

“If you don’t mind me askin’, this property is registered to Ms Sibyl Watson but by the looks of things she hasn’t lived here in sometime.” the four officers that had accompanied them set to work searching the house; two took the upstairs and the other two took the main floor. 

“Died.” Both men frowned at Bogue’s sudden blunt response “She died. It seems her family haven’t been to sort it out.” Bogue made himself comfortable in one of the armchairs he had removed a dust cover from 

“So why are you here?”

“Someone told me they had seen some unsavoury folk trespassing. I own this property.” 

Goodnight smiled politely. “ Really? I had no idea.” Faraday headed past Bogue and found the cellar door.

“I’m going to check the basement..Sir..” Faraday announced trying to join in with the professional police vibe. Goodnight and Sam joined him as they ventured down the darkened steps but found the basement barren and empty. 

“This can’t be..” Faraday stopped and looked around frantically “‘it wasn’t like this before”, Goody tapping at the walls, the other officers finding nothing in the house, and Bogue saying ‘Do go on’ to mock them.

 

Goodnight elbowed Sam in the ribs and gestured with his eyes that they should leave. “Looks like there’s nothing here,” he stated loudly, heading back towards the stairs. “Looks like we wasted your time, Mr Bogue. Sorry for the bother.” 

“No. It has to be here.” Sam grumbled, standing his ground. Goodnight sighed and turned back to Sam “I will tear this house down brick by brick if I have to” 

Goodnight frowned deeply walking briskly back over to Sam who was stubbornly rooted in one place, he grabbed Sam’s forearm tightly “Sam, that’s not the right approach. Come on.” Sam still refused to move. “Do you smell it, Sam?”

“What?”

Goodnight looked up at Sam dead in the eye and in a hushed voice replied “The smell of blood and death.” and gestured towards the door. They marched out of the house, looking back at Bogue who watched them smugly from the porch as they climbed into Sam’s car. The other officers left mumbling between themselves getting back into the police van. Goodnight sat in the driver's seat his hands firmly on the steering wheel. 

Faraday climbed into the backseat deflated and so confused. 

“I don’t know what he did...but we were definitely in the right place. That place reeked of death. Let’s head back we’ll come back later.” 

Sam grumbled under his breath sinking back into his chair watching Bogue closely as they drove away from the house. 

-

 

Bartholomew Bogue stood on the porch watching the police leave, and the smug grin he had on his face slowly faded into a snarl. Closing the door behind him, he headed to the basement descending into the darkness. As he reached the bottom smoke seemed to fall from the walls and settle on the dirty stone floor like water. 

The room was no longer barren. With a snap of his fingers the ropes attached the walls loosened and the weight they had been cradling landed on the floor with a thud. Barely recognisable from the severe rope burns was Hank Stoner. 

Bogue kicked the lifeless body in frustration. “Dead. Those fools made me miss out on my meal.” He cursed the wretched officers who had interrupted his plans as he proceeded to kick Hank’s corpse. “DENALI!” he shouted. 

From the shadows Denali, Bogue’s right hand appeared. Calming his breath and his temper, Bogue smoothed his hair back with both hands, inhaling sharply. “Mr Denali. Dispose of this spoiled nourishment.” Denali didn’t advance from his spot and watched Bogue with a predatory gaze before vanishing back into the darkness, Hank’s body sank into the shadows with him . 

“What a waste. His soul was going to be delicious.” 

-

The night was drawing in. The days seemed to be slipping away from them lately.   
Emma had heard the good news that Cassandra had been found alive, which lifted her spirits a little: there was still hope that Matthew and Teddy were alive too. 

She had opened her home to the three ghost hunters who were working the case – it didn’t seem right for them to have to pay the extortionate prices of a hotel and she also didn’t feel too safe in her home on her own. Vasquez had offered to cook as a thank you for letting them stay, and Jack and Goodnight came round that evening too both bringing something in the way of contribution:   
they all needed a break and some proper food, apart from Billy who was still at the hospital. 

“Goodnight, I’ll save some for Billy. Poor lad will need a good meal to keep him going.” Jack said as he helped dish up the meal. 

“That would be splendid. Thank you.” 

Jack had enforced a ‘no work talk during food’ rule. Work and meals should be kept seperate it forced them to stop working for more than five minutes. The meal banter ended up revolving around how much of a good cook Vasquez was.   
“I think you find I am also a great cook.” Faraday boasted through a mouthful of food.

“You set pasta on fire last time.” Red reminded barely glancing up to see Faraday’s pouting face. Once the meal had concluded and the table cleared, they had after dinner coffee and were finally permitted to talk about work once more.

“So that basement was pretty creepy right?” Faraday said from where he had been roped into the pot detail.

“We found nothing.” Goodnight replied from the table cradling a cup of coffee. 

“I don’t understand how it could have changed; there was a corridor of cages and-.”Faraday rambled on trying to list the various things they had seen.

“Wasn’t the door there?” vasquez questioned.

“What door? The basement was bare, there was nothing no windows, no doors, nothing.” Goodnight reiterated rubbing his prickly jawline; lord knows he really needed to shave.

Goodnight’s phone started ringing loudly.. “That’s Billy!” He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and dug out his phone almost dropping it in panic. “Billy.”

 _“Goody!”_ Billy’s voice was quiet and hoarse _“It’s Cass...she’s gotten worse…”_

Goodnight felt sick to his stomach. 

“I’ll be right there.” 

No sooner had he hung up than his phone rang again. This time it was Sam. “Sam?”

_“Goody, Hank’s body has turned up. Right outside the station too.” Goody hung up: he didn’t know where to go first._

“What’s up?” Faraday asked noticing the lack of movement from Goodnight.

“One of the missing officer’s body has just turned up at the station but I need to go to Billy.” Emma’s face paled at the news. Goodnight caught a glimpse of her worried expression and realise the mess he had made “-Emma… it’s not Matthew..I’m sorry. I-”

A heavy hand rested on Goodnight’s shoulder, Jack smiled at him. 

“You go to Billy. I’ll go to Sam.” 

Vasquez and Faraday stayed with Emma  
-

Billy sat on the chair beside Cassandra’s bed, Archie at his feet looking up every now and then as if to ask if she was awake yet. “No change yet,” Billy told him. The corgi gave his response in the form a little whine and leaned against Billy’s leg. “She’ll wake up. She has to,” he mumbled, leaning back on the chair. His eyes grew heavy and despite his anxiety the constant beep of the machines lulled Billy to sleep. 

The weight of a hand on his head slowly stroking his hair pulled him out of his slumber. Somehow he had moved considerably and had been resting his head on Cass’ bed. His eyes closed again, trying to drift back off to sleep, then snapped opened and he bolted upright. She was awake. 

“You were sleeping so soundly..I didn’t want to wake you.” He barely heard what she was saying, Cass was awake and seemingly well, her leg was still cast in pot and the bandages were still wrapped around her temple but that didn’t stop her smiling warmly at him. Billy quickly took hold of her hands and stroked the backs with his thumbs 

“How do you feel?”

“Achy but better now you’re by my side.” she smiled leaning in to rest her forehead against his shoulder “I was scared I’d never see you again.” to have her back made him feel so calm and whole again. 

 

“I need to call Goody.” Billy moved to fumble around his jacket trying to find his phone. 

 

“Billy…” she grabbed his wrist “just..wait for a moment..” Billy nodded and sat down on the edge of her bed, taking hold of her hand properly and she leant against him instantly. “Don’t go, darlin’”

“I should call Goody though – he’s been worried too.”

“He’ll understand.” 

Billy frowned a little: Cass treated Goodnight like a father, always apologising for making him worry, and after being missing for almost four days she would certainly want him to know she was well. 

Archimedes’ barking startled Billy. The corgi was stood away from the bed barking and growling. 

“I hate dogs..”

Billy pulled away from Cassandra in a heartbeat. “No..you’re not..her” The figure of Cassandra dispersed into a thick smoke that cascaded over the bed frame and a familiar form rose up from the smog.

“This is why I hate dogs. No matter.” Bogue looked at Billy with a smug grin. “I’ll just take her instead.”

The smoke engulfed Billy and he fell through the grey and suffocating fog, finding himself back in the chair he had been sat in originally. Something was wrong: Archie was whining and the machines were beeping erratically. His eyes fell on Cassandra whose body was shaking and jolting abnormally. “No! Cass! Come on. HELP!” He lunged forward and pressed the red button to alert the nurses.

One nurse came running to see what was the problem and quickly moved to start trying to help Cassandra. Once the doctor and two other nurses came in Billy was ushered out. 

“Her vitals are dropping rapidly,” was the last thing he heard as the door shut behind him. 

Billy stood in front of Cassandra’s room with Archie in his arms. 

_Her vitals...are dropping...no..they can’t.._

Billy sank to the floor in despair: she couldn’t die. In his drowning grief he managed to find his phone and called Goodnight.

“Goody...it’s Cass...she’s gotten worse…”

 

-

Jack and Red drove up to the station to meet Sam. There was a large commotion outside and an officer stopped them as they approached. “Sorry Sir, you can’t pass.”

“I need to see Sam Chisolm right now – it’s important.” The officer asked them to wait at the tape and ran off to find Sam. He appeared moments later with Sam in tow. 

Jack offered the stressed officer a brief smile which didn’t match the frown tugging at his brow. “Sam. Goodnight couldn’t make it, there was an emergency.” 

Sam nodded, he assumed Goodnight had gone back to the hospital, it would be the only reason he didn’t answer his summons. 

“They’re with me,” he told the officer, holding up the tape so they could duck under.

“Yes, Sir.”

Sam led them over to the main crime scene. An ambulance and forensics were present to document the mess. “He just turned up. No one saw anything. The body just appeared there.” 

Red Harvest knelt down next to the outline of where the body had lain and carefully inspected the area “I can smell sulphur, like in the basement. It came from the shadows.” 

The forensic officer scoffed loudly at Red’s proclamations. 

“The shadows? Don’t be-“

“Shadows..no, that’s it..” agreed Sam. “You two wait for me near your car.” Sam turned to the forensics officer: “Leave your findings on my desk.” 

Sam ran to his office to grab his jacket and the warrant again, just in case and headed back out to the car park where he found Jack and Red waiting patiently. “Red Harvest, when I went to that house before there was nothing in the basement. There was a foul odour on the air, Goody noticed it, but nothing to indicate what it came from..”

“It was hidden. I know a prayer or two that might bring the truth to light but it depends how strong the evil is.”

“One way to find out. Mr Horne, you don’t have to come with-“

“Like hell I’m going to let you two whippersnappers walk into potential danger. In the car.” Jack ordered as he climbed into the driver's seat. “This is what happened before, isn’t it?”

Sam nodded, clicking his seatbelt in “Once the first body turned up it wasn’t long before the others followed. Which means we need to find my officers. I can’t let them die this time.” Jack drove just above the speed limit earning a small frown from Sam. “Professor, I don’t want to alarm you but could you drive a little faster?” 

“Emergency or not, speeding is a fine way to get someone killed.” Jack replied not taking his eyes off the road, indicating to turn a corner.

This time as they pulled up to the house there was no car. “Looks like Bogue’s out.” 

Red went to investigate the property first, to check it was indeed empty. Jack in the meantime popped his trunk and pulled out a well-read leatherback bible from a small suitcase along with a long beaded rosary. 

Sam looked at him curiously. 

“You’re a man of faith?”

“I am,” Jack replied proudly, stroking the soft leather of the book fondly “If we are to walk into the devil’s house then I will be armed with objects of my faith to shield us.” He closed the trunk and turned to Sam with a stern grandfatherly gaze. “Do you believe, Sam?”

“I did,” Sam started, looking back at the house, “but after I lost my family I stopped I couldn’t-” 

Jack set a heavy hand on his shoulder and offered a reassuring smile. 

“It’s at times like that we need our faith more than anything. Because it reminds us that one day we will see our loved ones again in heaven.”

“I won’t be going to heaven.”

“Our Lord is merciful. He will forgive our sins and transgressions and will accept us again. You will see them again.” Jack squeezed Sam’s shoulder tightly as Red reappeared, announcing the coast was clear. 

Under the cover of darkness they ventured back into the lion's den.


	11. Maybe This Time

_July 6th_

The door to the property was locked but Jack took hold of the handle and put all his weight into one powerful barge. It wasn’t as quiet or fancy as Vasquez’s lock picking skills but the way was open to them now. 

“The basement is this way.” Red made a bee-line through the darkness as the clock in the hallway struck midnight, chiming eerily throughout the unoccupied house. Sam shone the flashlight around the hall until they reached the basement door. “Careful,” Red advised as he led the descent into the inky blackness. This time they found the basement as the three ghost hunters had originally found it. 

“I don’t understand.” Sam looked around in bewilderment. 

“He can not conjure the illusion if he is not present, it seems.” Jack clutched his bible to his chest tightly as he squinted through the dimly lit cellar at the horrors all around him The ropes that had been pulled tight around a bleeding animal or person now lay upon the floor caked in a mixture of fresh and dried blood. “This is unlike any cult ritual I have ever witnessed.”

Red found his way to the metal bar door that led to the cells beyond. Locked again and this time even Jack was unable to break it down with his immense strength. Red quickly found a loose brick to try and smash the large padlock off; it took a few tries but the lock clattered to the stone floor. The line of cells seemed to stretch for an eternity into the darkness. 

They moved quickly and cautiously down the corridor checking the cells as they went. One cell they passed was open: “This was Cassandra’s,” Red explained as they passed. 

Jack had stopped at a cell Sam had just passed and squinted into the darkness. Slumped at the back of the cell was the shadowy outline of a person. 

“Sam!” 

Red and Sam appeared by Jack’s side. Red had kept hold of the brick he had previously used and utilized it to open this padlock too. Sam entered the cell first and shone the light on the body. Laid motionless on the cold stones was Teddy. 

“Teddy. Teddy Q, can you hear me?” Sam shook Teddy’s shoulder tentatively. “Teddy, it’s Sam.” 

“Boss?” Teddy’s eyes slowly moved to look up at Sam but it didn’t look like he fully understood what was happening. 

“Teddy…” Sam sighed with relief, to find Teddy alive lifted a weight off his shoulders. He needed to bring Bogue to justice for all the pain he had caused.

“Easy now.” Jack carefully helped Teddy into a sitting position. There was a lot of blood matted in his mousy blonde hair, which was probably why he was so dazed, and soaking his uniform; it was hard to see where the blood had originated from but one culprit was the knife embedded in his leg. “We need to get him out of here.”

“Come on, Teddy, let’s get you to the hospital” Sam said, placing one of Teddy’s arms around his shoulders as Jack did the same his side. 

“I know it hurts but we need to get you out of here,” Jack quietly chit-chatted to Teddy to try and keep him conscious. Teddy groaned in pain. “Sam, let’s go.”

“Wait…Matthew….” Teddy tried to turn as they got out of his cage and shakily lifted his arm pointing down the corridor. In the darkness a figure could be seen. 

Sam tried to advance towards it but an unseen force sent him flying into Red, leaving Jack to support all of Teddy’s weight as Sam was thrown to the floor. 

“Boys, get up we need to go.” The darkness shifted and started to skulk towards them. Jack frowned. “You take Teddy and go. I’ll stop this evil.” Red was the first to move to take part of Teddy’s weight and he looked to Sam. 

“Professor, will you be alright?” Red asked, earning a smile and nod from Jack.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll catch up.” Jack turned his back on his comrades as they hurried as best they could, Teddy barely walking between them. 

“I have faced you once foul demon and I won’t be caught un-” Jack was cut short as he was thrown aside like a rag doll against the metal bars. Coughing as he stumbled onto his feet, Jack held his cross firmly in his hand and rose to meet the shadow-clad demon once more. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will have no fear!”

-  
Sam and Red carefully hoisted Teddy up the stairs as quickly as they could without making his injuries worse. Red kept glancing behind them, expecting either Jack or the demon to appear at the foot of the stairs. 

“Matthew.” Teddy mumbled. “He’s still-“

“Don’t worry, we’ll go back for him.” Sam replied, focusing on the path in front of him as they successfully cleared the stairs “Almost there, Teddy.” They crossed the main floor with little problem and out to the car parked outside. 

They eased Teddy into the back seat, mindful of the knife jutting out of his thigh. “Stay here with him,’ ordered Sam, “I’ll go-” His words fell short as the door to the property swung open loudly. Whirling round they saw Jack hobbling out of the house, blood soaking through his white shirt. Red Harvest ran to his aid.

“Did you win?”

Jack shook his head “The demon left. I assume Bogue called him away. I tried to go back but there was something blocking the way.”

Sam sat in the driver's seat of the car and pulled out his cell phone: at least this time he had some good news to give. “Emma. We found Teddy.” He was met with silence before her voice quietly reached his ears. 

_“I’m heading to the hospital.”_

-  
Back with Goodnight things were not looking as positive. 

Goodnight almost fell out of his car in haste and dashed inside the hospital. Skidding down the corridor he found Billy hunched on the floor outside Cassandra’s room with Archie sitting on his lap protectively. “Billy.” 

“What do I do, Goody?” Billy looked up from the corgi. His eyes were bloodshot from crying, his hair hung loosely over his face. The bags under Billy’s red eyes made him appear even more worn. “What if she doesn’t make it..” His voice was quiet and quivered, he didn’t want to believe that his love might perish before the day was over.

Goodnight knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“You have to have faith Billy, she’s in good hands-”

“It was him,” Billy interrupted. Goodnight looked at him questioningly. “Bogue. I saw Cass in a dream. She was awake and well...and then…shadows. He said he’d take her and then when I woke..this happened.” 

“It was just a coincidence.” though Goodnight struggled to believe his own words. He too had experienced the strange surreal visit from Bogue. “It’s just a dream Billy. I had one too. I saw that wretched man as I slept but nothing came of it. Don’t worry Billy, it was just a dream. A bad one.” 

-  
Emma had been at home with the other two ghost hunters when Sam had called. They had found Teddy, but where was Matthew? Her chest was full of so many emotions, chief among them hope. There was hope that Matthew could still be alive. 

Now she sat at Teddy’s bedside, her emotions slowly starting to boil. There was only one more missing and that was her beloved Matthew. All Sam had to really do was to go back to the house and find him. She would go herself if Sam hadn’t kept the location of the house secret from her. Faraday had almost let it slip but Vasquez had delivered a swift kick to his shin to keep him silent. 

“He’s doing it for your benefit, you know.” Emma looked up from Teddy’s sleeping form to see Joshua Faraday was leaning against the doorframe. 

“I don’t need protecting.” She pursed her lips as she frowned.

“No one is saying you do.” Faraday moved into the room closing the door behind him. “But for legalities and stuff if you went in there guns blazing and say, killed Bogue, think of what might happen.”

“He’s abducted people! He’s breaking the law as it stands!” 

“But when Goodnight and Sam went to the house they found nothing. What if you killed Bogue and whatever hocus pocus he conjured didn’t die with him? It’d look like you went in for no reason and shot him.” 

Faraday didn’t often speak words of wisdom from what Emma had gathered but she knew he wasn’t wrong. 

“I can’t just sit here and wait for Sam to fix everything!” Her hands balled into fists: they were so close to resolving everything but it seemed that one more thing always stood in her way.

“Look, I’m not saying-“

“Emma..” The pair stopped their argument and turned their attention towards the occupant of the bed. Teddy’s eyes were struggling to focus, wandering between Emma and Faraday. Emma took his hand carefully and squeezed it gently, reassuring him of her presence.

“Teddy. I’m here.”

“Emma. We have to..” Teddy trailed off, trying to find his words. “Matthew..he’s still...there..Emma..”

“Don’t worry, Teddy, I’m going to go get him,” she announced rising to her feet.

“Hey, woah now! You can’t-“ Faraday quickly put himself between Emma and the door with his arms apart in an attempt to stop Emma.

“I can and I will.”

Teddy slowly pushed himself up, groaning from his injuries. “I’m coming too.”

“Aw, come on. Okay. You stay in bed.”

“Just..a bullet wound.” Teddy groaned as he carefully swung his legs out of the bed

“you got a nasty bump on the head too.” Faraday added “you shouldn’t be up.”

“I need to help Emma. She can’t go alone.” Teddy grumbled.

Faraday saw that neither of them were going to budge on the situation and sighed in defeat holding his hands up in surrender. “You ain't getting out of the main doors. Not yet anyway. Look, give it ten minutes: Sam is heading back to Goodnight’s, as are we.” Faraday looked between the two wearing an uncharacteristic serious expression. “And whatever you do, don’t die.” 

-

Sam was in the waiting room with the other ghost hunters, Goodnight still with Billy. He looked up as Faraday rejoined the group. “How is Teddy?”

“Still unconscious.” Faraday replied nonchalantly. “Emma is staying with him.” 

Sam nodded. 

“We should regroup at Goody’s. We need to act quickly: Bogue won’t take this sitting down.” 

 

As they rose from their chairs a tired voice said, “I do hope you’re not leaving without me.” They turned to face Goodnight who looked more worn than the rest of them, the mayhem apparently catching up with him. “Billy is staying here to watch over Cassandra.” Goodnight glanced between the others slowly. “Will Mrs Cullen be joining us?”

“She’s watching over Teddy, ” Sam explained, Goodnight hummed and replied with a small nod, “Teddy is a close friend, it’ll be better for her to stay here where it’s safe.” Sam looked around and noticed they were still missing one. “Has anyone checked on Professor Horne?” 

“Now now, miss, I am perfectly fine. Just a light scratch.” Jack appeared along the corridor, his possessions tucked under one arm, marching towards them with a nurse almost running to keep up.

“Sir, please. You can’t discharge yourself.” 

“I am in perfect health, miss, and there are plenty of others that are in need of your care than I. Ah there you are!” Jack smiled and headed towards Sam and the group. “Now then, lads, let’s get to it.” 

Goodnight stepped forward. “Professor, perhaps you should rest. That injury was quite nasty.” The wound Jack had sustained was in a rather troublesome area and too much exertion could make it worse.

“I will not,” announced Jack, puffing out his chest in defiance. “There is the Lord's work to do and I refuse to lay about whilst there is evil afoot.” 

Red stepped forward and lightly jabbed at the wound causing Jack to hiss and jerk away from the younger man. “Sorry Professor but you’re not fit to be up.” 

“That’s that, Mr Horne. Now back to your room,” the nurse huffed as she herded Jack back down the hall.

“Jack, while you’re here can you keep an eye on Teddy and Cassandra?” Sam called: it might sweeten the situation if he felt he could be doing something worthwhile. 

“Of course.”

 

_July 7th_

“Mr Rocks, you can come in now. She is sedated...and….she should….but...she might not...” 

Billy didn’t hear everything that the nurse said to him as he followed her into the room, it was like tuning into a radio station constant static and white noise. 

He stood at the foot of Cassandra’s bed with Archie tucked under his arm. She was supposed to get better, not worse. Bogue had to be stopped. If killing Bogue would save Cassandra then he’d gladly pay the penalty for murder. 

“Mr Rocks?” Billy snapped out of his daze and looked at the nurse. “The dog will have to go outside.” 

He looked from the corgi to the nurse and the corgi also looked up at the nurse with pleading eyes. 

“Please..just a little while.”

“Five minutes and then he has to go outside,” she said sternly. Billy nodded and watched the nurse leave. He sighed and sat down on the chair beside the bed with Archie on his lap. With every bleep of the machines it made Billy tense. He didn’t want to hear that horrible noise. He stared anxiously at Cassandra hoping she would wake up and everything would be as it should. 

A sudden knock on the door made him frown: it hadn’t been five minutes at all. He had barely risen to his feet when the door opened and Emma slowly entered with Teddy at her side. 

“How is she?” Billy looked at Cassandra, hooked up to so many machines it was killing him. Emma took his somber silence as his answer. “We’re going back to the house. I’m going to end it for good.” Billy looked up at Emma, her face was picture of determination. “I can’t wait for Sam to act. Matthew’s still there.” 

“I’m coming too.” Billy set Archimedes down on the chair and ruffled his fur. “Archie, protect her until I get back.” The corgi barked in form of a response and sat proudly on the chair. “If Bogue dies...she’ll wake up. I know it.” 

“We should go before they check Teddy’s room.” 

Billy helped Teddy move a little quicker down the hall, they took the stairs rather than the lifts in an attempt to be undiscovered. “Do you want a wheelchair if that’s painful?”

Teddy shook his head “I’ll be okay. I can walk.” Teddy was a poor liar as he grimaced with every step he took. “I’ll be fine.” he reassured “I won’t let you down.”

The early morning air was fresh and brisk, a welcome change from the warm confines of the hospital. The night was slowly fading into dawn, the sun was showing signs of rising on the horizon. They crossed the parking lot to Emma’s car, and Billy ran back to his car to get a few things notably his jacket and gun belt. 

He glanced back up at the hospital “don’t worry Cass, I’m going to save you.”

-

“We have to draw Bogue out somehow..” All weary heads turned from the tray of hot beverages on the cluttered coffee table to Sam who was stood looking out of the office window at the encroaching dawn.

“You are the one that humiliated him and pointed blame at him…” Goodnight reminded him, taking two cups of black coffee crossing the room and passing one to Sam. “The one he wants to settle a score with is you.” 

“But how do we draw him out?” Faraday asked, dropping several sugar cubes into his coffee under Goodnight’s disapproving stare. 

“By attacking the things he holds close.” Sam suggested.

“He’s a businessman. His business, his lands - they have to be illegally owned.” 

“Damn,” said Red suddenly, noisily rummaging through his bag. He raised his head. “Sorry. I just need to pick something up. I left it at Emma’s.”

He made a quick exit, leaving the others to their discussions. Vasquez looked at Faraday with a raised eyebrow as he slurped his coffee obnoxiously. Faraday offered a shrug in response and carried on sipping his coffee. 

Sam hummed. “I think I have an idea, but we’ll need to move quickly.”

-

“Will you be okay, Teddy?” Emma asked as they pulled up to the house. 

“I’ll be fine. We have to get to Matthew.” Teddy groaned as he swung his leg out the car and took a deep breath as he gripped the door frame of the car to lift himself out. Emma wasn’t going to turn his help away now but she was a little concerned about his wounds getting worse. 

“how is your leg?” She asked looking down at his leg. 

“It’s sore but I’ll be alright. I can rest once we get Matthew.” Teddy forced a smile as he leant against the car.

Popping the boot of the car open Emma readied herself for a confrontation, pulling Matthew’s holster around her waist and tightening it as best she could before grabbing the police issue rifle that laid in the back.

“Aren’t you a little too armed?” Billy asked, eyeing up the arsenal she was carrying. 

“Let’s go.” Emma announced, shaking her plait over her shoulder and marching across the front lawn up to the house as the morning sun finally rose over the horizon. 

_Just hang on, Matthew, I’m coming._


	12. The Game Is Over

_July 7th_

Between the hospital and Goodnight’s office Faraday was strangely quiet. That usually meant one of two things: he had done something he shouldn’t or he had been dumped. 

“What are you planning, guero?” Vasquez opened the window as he lit a cigarette and flipped the lighter into the back seat for his partner.

“Mm. Nothing,” Faraday mumbled, lighting his own cigarette. 

Red Harvest glanced up at the Irishman in the rearview mirror. “You told Emma where we found Cassandra and Teddy.” Faraday jolted, almost swallowing his cigarette in shock. “I heard you talking to Emma. That man is dangerous: you sent her into the lion's den.” 

“You damn fool,” growled Vasquez, running a hand over his beard, “why don’t you ever think about consequences?”

“What?! She deserves to know, doesn’t she?” Faraday huffed, blowing smoke out of the car window. “That Teddy boy was going with her-”

“He’s injured! Argh! How can you- Jesus!” Vasquez was so frustrated with Faraday he couldn’t even form a coherent sentence. “We have to sort this mess.”

“If we turn up at that house now, it might be the same. We might see nothing.“ Red Harvest explained, calm as ever. “Emma is going in there effectively alone. He’s more likely to let the illusion down for one person because he knows he can defeat them but if we went he could just call the police on us and have us arrested for trespassing.”

“That’s true.” Vasquez hummed, racking his brains for of a plan to fix Faraday’s foolishness.

“Hey, Red, you’re savvy with this sort of spooky stuff right-” Faraday chipped in, leaning between the two front seats.

“I could correct you on so much about that sentence, but yes.” 

“Well, give it ten minutes. Make up an excuse and go check on Emma and Teddy boy. The prof will find out sooner or later that they’re gone and then we can spring into action.” 

“Actually that’s not a bad plan,” Vasquez had to admit. “Red, if things get ugly, call immediately.” Red Harvest nodded as they pulled up to Goodnight’s office behind Sam’s car. “And güero, next time you wanna do something stupid gives us a heads up, eh?”

-

Billy led the way into the house. Emma followed, hands ready on the rifle just in case, and Teddy limped slowly beside her, his hand loosely resting on his handgun. Billy navigated his way to the basement door and cautiously twisted the doorknob . The hinges creaked loudly and they peered down into the seemingly bottomless darkness. Billy removed his own gun from his holster as he started the descent; the stairs creaked under their combined footsteps. 

Emma stopped and turned back to look up at Teddy who had remained in the light. “Teddy?” 

He shook his head and stared at his feet. “I’m scared...Emma..I know we gotta save Matthew but I know what’s down there..” 

Emma climbed the steps again and touched his arm gently. “It’s okay. Stay up here and keep watch.” She offered him a comforting smile, Teddy needed rest but he still wanted to help and she couldn’t deny him that. Emma left her dear friend and headed back down into the basement. 

Billy had already reached the foot of the stairs, phone in hand to shed some light on the scene. Emma had no words to describe how vile the odour in the room was; it caught her at the back of her throat and it took a lot of willpower to keep herself from vomiting. 

“You okay?” Billy asked. Emma nodded and quickly straightened herself up. “That’s the smell of death,” he explained as he examined the metal bar door which led further beneath the house. He grabbed one of the bars and yanked the door open, shining his phone around. 

Emma stood at the gateway and stared down the endless corridor of cages. The foul smell got stronger, and it was cold, as though the air was thick with the despair of its victims. He was down here. Her beloved Matthew was somewhere in this dark hell. The thought of him being alone down here made her heart ache terribly: how badly must he be hurt? “Please, Matthew...please be alive.” she mumbled somberly to herself as she followed Billy into the dark.   
-

Jack had finally been given permission to visit both Teddy and Cassandra in their rooms but only for short while because of his own injuries. He stopped at Teddy’s room first and knocked gently on the door, but there was no response. Frowning he knocked a little louder before opening the door. “Teddy, son? Mrs Cullen?” 

Jack entered the room and found it empty. “Oh Lord!” He whirled round on the spot and hurried out of the room. He had a bad feeling as he ran as fast as he could to Cassandra’s room, and sure enough he found it guarded only by her dog who was sitting proudly on the chair by her bed. “Oh no.” Jack called Sam quickly explaining the situation. 

Archie barked and jumped off the chair to lie under Cassandra’s bed. “You did a fine job protecting her,’ Jack smiled at the corgi, ‘I’ll take over from here,” and he sat on the chair beside her bed to offer his prayers in hope that they would protect her.  
-

With no visible view of the outside world it was difficult for Matthew to count the days since he was abducted. He had started to doubt if he was truly still alive; perhaps he was already dead and this dank basement was his hell. He had forgotten what the sun felt like upon his skin. His throat was sore from the lack of water and screaming at his captors when he had the displeasure of seeing them. 

One by one Bogue had brought his prey down into the darkness and one by one they had been rescued. Now only he remained. It was almost like Bogue had allowed them to be rescued to give him hope that he too might be saved. His voice could barely sound a whisper let alone shout for help. Bogue seemed to enjoy Matthew’s despair and shattered dreams: it brought him such enjoyment to see him suffer. 

_Emma. Em..my love..I’m sorry.._

“Matthew!” A small smile crept onto his dry chapped lips as he closed his eyes – even in this hell it was as though he could hear her sweet voice. 

“Matthew!” A wave of hope and fear washed over him. Had Bogue captured her? Or was this just another of his ploys? 

He shuddered at the sensation of a soft hand warm against his cheek. Slowly he opened his eyes and there she was, eyes full of tears as she gazed at him. “Oh, Matthew...” Her hands stroked at his cheek fondly. 

“I won't….fall.. for your.. tricks..” Matthew hissed quietly, jerking away. Bogue had tried to break his spirit by showing him visions of Emma, visions that seemed so real: they smiled at him and held him just like his precious wife did but it always ended the same, with her dead in his arms. 

“Matthew?” It hurt to hear the sadness in this Emma’s voice. Her lip quivered and her hands trembled, withdrawing from his cheek. “Billy, we need to get him out.” He hadn’t noticed the man stood a little ways from Emma, and his eyes struggled to focus on him. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get you out of here,” Emma promised, trying to find something to break the locks off. “Teddy is upstairs waiting for us.” 

“Teddy..he’s alive?” Matthew didn’t know why he asked that question, setting himself up for heartache once more. Emma nodded. The sound of the shackles being smashed opened echoed loudly through the room; Matthew tried to move from his chair but found himself on his knees, legs unable to support his weight. 

“Steady, Matthew.” She ran a hand across his hair and held him close – how he had longed for this again, even if she was a trick. He felt so at ease in her embrace.

The man with Emma stopped what he was doing, slowly rising to his feet, and pulled a gun from under his jacket. “Did you hear that?” Emma shook her head. “Stay here.” 

“Emma…” His throat hurt so much but he wanted to talk to her. “Please...please don’t be a dream..” He burrowed his face into her shoulder and the faint fragrance of lilies flowed into his nose as he cried. 

“It’s alright, hon, I’m here.” she hummed, rocking him slightly. 

Billy reappeared in a flurry. “We need to go,” he announced, moving to grab Matthew’s shoulder. “You have to stand up.”

“Billy-”

“Someone’s here. I think it’s Bogue.” Billy tried to pull Matthew onto his feet but his legs just weren’t cooperating. “Shit,” Billy cursed, turning his back to them and putting himself between them and the long dark tunnel. Emma grabbed her rifle and rose to her feet, aiming past Billy. 

They stood in silence waiting for something or someone to appear from the shadows. Neither of them saw or heard anything in the darkness but a sickening thud and the clatter of Billy’s gun on the stone tiles startled a scream from Emma. Billy had sunk to one knee with what looked like a tomahawk jutting out of his shoulder. 

Emma felt sick, her mouth bone dry from fear, but she turned back to the corridor and readied herself for another attack. 

“You must be Mrs Cullen. How wonderful of you to join us.” The voice seemed to echo all around her. 

“I am not going to let you hurt my husband anymore!” she yelled, pulling the trigger to fire a bullet into the darkness. 

“You are rather feisty, much like that other woman we dragged down here.” The sound of footsteps finally reached Emma’s ears and from the darkness before her a greasy looking man stepped out, lighting a cigarette “You have saved me the trouble of bringing yo-” Bogue was cut off by a bullet finding its way into his arm. “You peasants never did have any manners. Mr Denali?” 

The shadows rose up like a geyser beside Emma and yanked the rifle from her grasp, tossing it across the room.

“Emma…run..” Matthew wheezed as Emma was thrown across the room like a rag doll. Bogue walked over to Emma with a smirk on his face. 

“You did well to make it this far but that is quite enough.” Bogue reached for the gun hanging at his hip, then frowned, his attention suddenly diverted from her. “Mr Denali, keep them entertained but don’t kill them yet. It seems I have other uninvited guests.” Bogue calmly smoothed back his hair and marched back down the corridor, leaving Emma, Billy and Matthew to Denali’s mercy.

As Sam and Goodnight sat and discussed their plan of action Vasquez and Faraday just sipped their coffee, nodding along at intervals: they knew what was to come. Even so, the sound of Sam’s phone startled them all. 

“Hello?”

 _“Sam. Sam we have a problem!”_ Sam frowned at Jack’s frantic tone.. 

“What’s happened?” 

_Mrs Cullen, Teddy and Billy have all vanished. Miss Elwood is here alone.”_ Something clicked in Sam’s mind and he rounded on the two ghost hunters who were now very interested in the plans laid out on the coffee table. 

“Stay at the hospital and look after her. I have a feeling I know where they are.” Sam hung up and stared at the pair with a stern unblinking look. “You two have some explaining to do.”

“What’s wrong?” Goodnight looked between both parties, confused. 

“Emma, Teddy and Billy have left the hospital. And strangely enough Red Harvest disappeared too.” 

“We sent Red to check on them.” Faraday admitted, trying to remain cool and aloof. 

“You let Emma go to that house? What were you thinking?” Sam’s temper finally started to unravel. “Nevermind, I don’t want to hear you bullshit excuse. Grab your things, we’re heading to Bogue’s.” Sam was already at the door by the time the others had reacted to his words. 

“Billy, you fool. Why didn’t you tell me? Lord, you better be in one piece.” Goodnight muttered to himself as he walked over to a mahogany cabinet, unlocked it and grabbed a well looked after leather belt with gun already in the holster. He wrapped it around his waist then reached in for a rifle, his preferred weapon, though he prayed he didn’t need to use it. “Well come on boys,” he ordered, “move your keisters.” 

-

Red Harvest took the van and drove straight to the house. As much as he hoped nothing untoward had happened to Emma, the nagging at the back of his mind said otherwise. Only Billy’s car was present at outside the house but Red still moved with caution. Arming himself with the small hunting knife he kept in the van just in case, he moved quickly and quietly into the house. 

At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary but as he approached the basement door, he spotted a body slumped on the floor, and as he moved closer he recognised it as Teddy. 

“Please. Help her..we only...wanted to save Matthew,” Teddy wheezed, reaching to cling weakly to Red Harvest’s letterman, “please…” Red nodded and helped Teddy up into a more comfortable sitting position before he heading down into the basement his knife in hand. It was dangerous, he knew, he had to get Emma out of there. 

The temperature dropped as he descended into the darkness and turning into the main room he was greeted by a handful of candles illuminating the dingy stone room, in the centre of which sat Bogue in an old leather chair, the dimly lit room making the businessman look even more sinister and mysterious. 

Bogue blew smoke from his cigarette into the air and eyed Red Harvest with exasperation. “You are not who I was expecting.” Bogue shifted in his chair and crossed his legs, though he continued to smoke calmly. “I suppose you’re looking for the girl? She’s back there. She could be alive. Who knows.” Bogue’s brow furrowed, he hoped Denali was still toying with them - if he killed them now it would ruin his game. 

Red frowned, gripping his knife tightly. “You’re letting me past?” 

“I’m not going to fight you.” Bogue replied, taking another long drag of his cigarette “Besides. I doubt you’ll come back alive.” 

Red backed cautiously past Bogue, keeping his eyes on the man, then ducked through the doorway towards the cells and back into the darkness. 

-

Even on his own Denali was a force to be reckoned with. Emma was almost out of bullets. She was certain that her shots had hit her target but they didn’t seem to faze him at all. Billy had staggered back onto his feet. Taking a deep breath he gripped the handle of the axe embedded in his shoulder and let out a stifled yell as he wrenched it from his shoulder.  
“It’s not over yet,” he growled, ignoring the pain in his arms and lunged at Denali. 

Emma kept her rifle trained on Denali waiting for a clear shot, but he vanished for a moment being a veil of shadows and reappeared with Matthew held aloft by the darkness as a shield. 

“You monster!” Emma was ready and eager to shoot this horrid man but what if she shot Matthew. 

“We have to think of something,” Billy frowned gripping his shoulder which was starting to throb with a terrible pain. What could they do? How did one defeat a shadow?

-

“There's our van,” Faraday pointed out as they pulled up to the house. He was first out the car. “I’ll go find Red.” 

Vasquez was quick to follow. “Guero! Don’t run off on your own.” 

Sam and Goodnight looked between each other before heading into the building. “I’m responsible for all this,” said Sam grimley. “I’m the one he wants.”

Goodnight gripped his shoulder. ‘You don’t have to do this alone.“

The ghost hunters hadn’t gotten far, crouched down beside Teddy. “Hey, Teddy.” Vasquez tapped Teddy’s face trying to wake him up but he was out cold. 

“Get him to the van,” Sam ordered. 

“I have to make sure Red is okay.” Faraday left ahead of the group and ran down the basement stairs. 

Sam shook his head in disbelief. “Goody, could you?”

“Come on Vasquez, give me a hand.” 

Sam bolted down the stairs, almost colliding with Faraday who had stopped at the foot of the stairs. Bogue sat in the middle of the room with smoke seemingly pouring out of his body, cascading onto the floor like water. 

“Mr Chisolm. You finally arrived.” Bogue slowly rose from his chair. “Quite rude of you to keep me waiting.” The smoke swirled up around him, his eyes glowing hauntingly through the thick fog. “Come on, Sam, let’s see how far your revenge will take you.” 

Faraday and Sam cautiously advanced into the room. “Be on your guard,” Sam warned: being separated in this fog was asking for trouble. 

“What exactly are we guarding against?” Sam cast his eyes over his shoulder and they widened in shock. It was not Faraday but Bogue that now stood behind him; when had he separated them? Sam spun round with a clenched fist and delivered a satisfying blow to the businessman’s jaw, knocking him to the floor. 

“Ow! Hey! Sam!” 

_“Is that all you have?”_

The two voices spoke simultaneously but the second was louder than the first and that was the one Sam reacted to. He lunged at Bogue who was slowly getting to his feet, tackling him to the floor and punching him repeatedly.

“Sam! Stop!” 

_“After everything. This is all your hatred could muster?”_

The rage that Sam had kept bottled up for so many years had finally boiled over, like a dam that had burst, uncontrollable and unrelenting. 

_“That’s it! Let your anger and desire take over.”_ The sound of Bogue’s taunts drove Sam further into the depths of his own anger.

A hand reached out and grabbed Sam’s shirt, pulling him off Bogue and into the path of an oncoming slap. “Sam Chisolm! What in tarnation has gotten into you?” 

Sam blinked several times, trying to refocus his eyes. He looked up at his old friend, fist still latched onto his shirt.

“Bogue-” Another slap was delivered from Goodnight. “You weren’t fighting Bogue.” He pointed angrily to his left. “You were punching Faraday!” 

Sam followed Goodnight’s gesture and there indeed was Faraday being helped onto his feet by Vasquez.

“Arre! Arre!” Vasquez patted Faraday’s shoulder when he was completely upright. 

“But..Bogue was there.” Sam mumbled accepting Goodnight’s help to stand up. ‘Where’s he gone?’

-  
Red ran down the corridor of cells towards the sounds of a struggle; as he approached he saw Billy being thrown aside like a doll, clattering against the metal bars of the cells. Despite the injuries he must have suffered Billy slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. 

Red Harvest gripped the knife tighter in his hand and muttered a few words of protection as he approached the fight and with one quick movement ducked under Denali’s raised arm and sliced the man in the side, putting himself between a very weary Emma and Denali.  
He had done something neither Billy or Emma had been able to: he had wounded the man. There was hope. 

Denali dropped Matthew out of shock. His shield gone, Denali now had to face an actual threat. 

-

“Bogue is using his tricks to fool you,” Goodnight explained. 

“How astute of you, detective.” Bogue’s voice seemed to echo around them in the fog. “But how do you plan to bring me to justice if you can’t catch me?” His laugh was grating. Bogue appeared from the fog with a gun in his hand. A single gunshot sounded through the room and Faraday yelled, clutching his side and falling to his knees in pain. Sam turned his gaze from Faraday and back to where Bogue had stood: he was gone. 

“Güero?!” Vasquez quickly knelt beside Faraday. “Let me see, Joshua.” 

Goodnight grabbed the rifle he had slung over his shoulder and aimed it into the shadows, hoping some sound would give Bogue away. He fired two shots into the darkness and was met with retaliation. A bullet lodged itself in Goodnight’s shoulder forcing him to let the rifle clatter to the floor, and he cried out as another shot struck him in the calf. 

-  
Billy had mobilized. He couldn’t lift his arm very well but he acted as a decoy to help Red Harvest get in an attack here and there. He wasn’t sure how Red could hurt this monster but at this stage he didn’t care, he just wanted it to be over. In the distance gunshots could be heard and Billy picked up on the sound of Goody crying out in pain. 

“Emma!” Billy’s shout snapped Emma out of her trance as she watched them dodge and dart around Denali. “Go help the others,” he ordered, ducking out of the way of Denali’s tomahawk. 

Emma nodded and clambered to her feet. She cast one last look at Matthew who lay unconscious behind her then bolted past Denali and down the corridor. She had to end it. It had to stop. 

-

Bogue let himself be seen for a brief moment, stepping out of the smoke to face Sam one on one. “So what now? Your friends are useless to you.” Sam frowned and drew his gun quickly shooting Bogue in the hand. Bogue clutched his wrist and hissed in pain 

“Are you sure of that?” Sam replied. Distant shouts echoed in the corridor. “I think you’re weaker than you should be.”

The smoke around them whirled up like a small tornado and took the solid shape and form of a familiar face. Sam stepped backwards. “Ma..”

The old woman before him was still as graceful as he remembered her, her hair still in the stages of greying. “My little Sam.” 

Sam felt cold, his whole body trembling with grief. His mother smiled at him so warmly and threw her arms around him “I’m here now, sweetie.” The sound of his mother’s voice, one that he had almost forgotten soothed his aching soul. 

“Sam! Sam it’s a-” Goodnight’s warning was silenced by a wall of smoke separating the team even more. 

“Can’t have you spoiling my plan, detective.” Bogue mused, pointing a small handgun at Goodnight. “I believe it is indeed goodnight.” Goodnight tried to squirm backwards, but a heavy force barreled into Bogue making him narrowly miss his already injured target. 

“Not today, cabron.” Vasquez picked up Goodnight’s fallen rifle and swung it like a club into Bogue’s jaw causing him to stagger backwards and vanish into the smoke once more. “You weasely piece of shit,” he growled, kneeling down to the detective. “You alright?”

“I’ve certainly had better days,” Goodnight groaned as he tried to stand up. “Keep fighting!”

-  
Archie whined from under Cassandra’s bed while she murmured and groaned in her unconscious state. Jack had been vigilant in his prayers. Whatever they were up against worked in the shadows and the subconscious, when they were the most vulnerable. His prayers were the only defense Cassandra had. 

Jack jumped as a plume of smoke seemed to seep out of the walls. “You are not welcome here, demon.” Jack growled, gripping his bible. “My prayers will shield her from your wickedness.”

-

The smoke suddenly parted to reveal Sam on his knees, blood trickling over his hand. “Sam!” Behind the vision of Sam’s mother stood the demon holding his gun up as though Sam’s own mother was shooting him. Sam fell to the ground with a thud.

Bogue’s laughter filled the room, hauntingly loud. “See! This is how small and ineffectual you are! You are nothing! I was destined to rule over you all!” Bogue seemed to stretch taller before the weakened group, mocking and taunting them. 

Sam pushed himself up onto his knee trying to force his legs to bear his weight, but the barrel of the gun was placed against Sam’s head “It’s over Sam. You couldn’t save them then and you can’t save them now. You failed-” 

Bogue’s words were drowned out by a loud gunshot. Sam saw the blood soak through Bogue’s jacket. “No!” Bogue staggered back and turned to the corridor behind him: there was Emma, a rifle in her hands and aimed at Bogue. “I am immortal! I cannot die!” 

“That’s for Matthew!” She pulled back on the trigger again, the gun shot echoing through the small room again “And that’s for Teddy!”

“You wench!” he roared, “You dare to..” Bogue took a step forward then stopped with a sudden scream as he jolted from side to side violently. An invisible force seemed to be pulling at his body, tearing it apart. “How can..this be...I was..supposed to..live forever....”

Emma readied her next shot and this time fired it through Bogue’s head. Bogue stopped moving and sank down but as his knees hit the stone slabs his whole body dissolved into smoke, leaving nothing but a pile of ashen grey bones.


	13. The Day After Forever

_July 7th._

“Is that it? It’s over?” asked Faraday through laboured breaths as he tried to move. The smoke that Bogue conjured seemed to seep away into the very shadows leaving the basement’s atrocities for all to see. 

“Stay here. Emma, call an ambulance. Vasquez, with me.” Sam rose to his feet and headed towards the cells. 

“Oh yeah, leave the injured people!” Faraday whined sarcastically.

“Well you’re not going far are you, guero?” Vasquez joked before he followed Sam down the corridor. They came across Red first, sitting on the floor looking exhausted but apparently unscathed. 

“Billy and Matthew are further down,” he explained, using the wall to steady himself back onto his feet. 

They carried on down the corridor and into a smaller room with an iron chair in the centre; other than that the room was bare save for various bloodstains. Billy was sat on the floor, a cigarette poised at his lips. At first glance it was hard to tell if he had fallen asleep from exhaustion until he wearily lifted a hand to signal that he was awake, and before their feet was Matthew. 

“Good lord!” Sam knelt down in front of Matthew: he looked awful, pale and drawn and covered in dried blood, his lips cracked from a lack of water. Matthew? ..Matthew.” 

“I knew...you’d come…” were the only words he could manage before the adrenaline finally failed him and he lapsed into a deep slumber. 

Sam took his jacket and carefully placed it under Matthew’s head. “Go see how the others are doing,” he said quietly to Vasquez, then he sat by Matthew’s side, finally letting his pent-up emotions flow freely. He had saved them. He had avenged his poor mother and sisters. If only he had been quicker to save Hank… but Bogue was gone now and he couldn’t harm any more innocent people. 

“Thank you, Sam.” 

Sam quickly rubbed the tears from his eyes when he heard Emma’s voice. “I’m sorry it took so long.” 

Emma knelt down beside him and set a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But you found him and he’s alive and for that I am grateful. You should go to see Goodnight, I’ll stay here.” Emma’s gaze never left Matthew’s face as though she feared he might vanish again should she blink. 

-

As soon as they reached the hospital Billy left the group and headed straight to Cassandra’s room. His injuries were not as dire as Faraday’s and he couldn’t just wait idle to be seen - he had to know if she was well. As he approached he could hear voices, and one which made his heart race, a voice he felt like he hadn’t heard in months. He burst through the door and practically fell into the room. 

“Lord, Billy, you’ll give someone a heart attack doing that,” Jack scolded as Billy cautiously moved closer to the bed. There she was. Awake, and actually sitting upright. Billy’s eyes blurred with tears as he sunk to his knees beside the bed and sobbed quietly into the sheets. 

“Why are you crying, dear?” Cass smiled at him even though she was probably in so much pain still 

“I thought-” He couldn’t say the words.

“I was going to die?” She stroked his hair softly “I’ve had worse. Though I can’t think of any right now.” 

Jack couldn’t help but chuckle at the young pair. There was a knock, and the door opened again to reveal Vasquez and Red.

“There you are.” Vasquez grabbed Billy by one arm. “Come on, Billy, you have to get those injuries looked at.” Billy stubbornly refused to move from Cassandra’s bedside. 

“Billy, son. You need to get checked out,’ Jack stated sternly. ‘Once that’s done you can come straight back.” 

Billy was practically hauled onto his feet by Red and Vasquez. “Come on, Billy.” 

Cass chuckled as she waved Billy off. “Don’t worry, Billy, I’m not going anywhere.” 

Billy reluctantly sat still long enough for the wound in his shoulder to be tended to. Fortunately he had come out with no broken ribs but he had already started to bruise from being thrown against the bars. Then he headed to find the others, checking in on Goody first who was with Sam. 

Goodnight’s left arm was going to be in a sling and he was already displeased about it. 

“Goody..are you okay?”

“Yes, Billy, goodness stop fussing. Just a scratch.” he huffed slouching in the chair beside Sam’s bed. Sam was going to be on crutches until his leg wound healed and ideally he should take it off work but that was extremely unlikely. 

“I need to be back at work tomorrow,” he declared. “I have reports to write.”

“Sam, take a week off at least.” Goodnight tried to offer a voice of reason but Sam sulked in the bed. Billy shook his head: they were as bad as each other, both unable to take time off work unless they couldn’t physically move.

Not everyone come out of the fight as lightly as Vasquez and Red had. Faraday had a nasty wound on his side but according to the doctors he was lucky it wasn’t fatal: he would have to rest a while to not tear his stitches.   
Teddy was back in his hospital bed with slightly more injuries than when he left - the nurse had scolded him and when she had finished Sam appeared to scold him too.   
Matthew, predictably, was in the worst shape out of everyone and was still in theater. 

“Thanks for looking after Archie.” Billy walked with Vasquez and Red to the hospital entrance. They were free to go but Billy didn’t want to leave Cass alone. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll look after him.” Vasquez smiled taking Billy’s house keys from him. Billy thanked them again before they parted ways. He yawned as he headed back up through the hospital to Cassandra’s room, the events of the day were finally catching up with him. 

Tired as he was, seeing her smiling face as he walked into the room gave him a little boost of energy. 

“how are you feeling?” she questioned shuffling to make space for him to lay beside her on the bed. 

“Tired and achy.” he groaned kicking his boots off as he lifted his feet onto the bed. “I missed you.” Cassandra shuffled close resting her head on his shoulder. 

“As did I.” she slipped her hand between his and closed her eyes “I can’t wait to go home. I hate hospitals.” she mumbled between yawns.

Billy shifted his head to kiss her forehead gently “so do I.” it didn’t take either of them long to fall asleep into the first peaceful sleep either of them had had in awhile. 

 

-

 _Georgia: 1865._   
There is a darkness in every man’s heart. Most feel it in the form of jealousy towards their fellow man, but none felt the selfish grip of greed more than Bartholomew Bogue. He had grown up with everything he had ever needed and could ever want, but nothing could satisfy the bottomless well of his desires.

The Civil War had both started and ended Bartholomew’s downward spiral into depravity. Four long years gave him a taste for bloodshed and cruelty and by the end of it he was less of a human than he was born. Then the war had ended, not in their favour, and Bogue learnt the true weight of his loss. 

“What do you mean they’re gone?” Bogue asked calmly from behind the heavy mahogany desk that had once belonged to his father. He considered himself a fair and patient man: was he not just and benevolent towards his slaves? “Why. Are. They. Gone?” he asked again, slower and sterner, as he shakily took a perfectly rolled cigarette out of a silver cigarillo case. 

The man before his desk quivered and fidgeted nervously on the spot. “The..law. Mr. Bogue. The law states that-“ 

The man jumped as Bogue’s hands hit the surface of the desk. “I am above the law. They cannot take what is rightfully mine!”

“But, Sir-“ The man fell silent, at the sound of lone gunshot and his brow knitted together in pain as he glanced down at the red wetness forming on his shirt. He glanced up at Bogue who lowered a small handgun placing it on his desk.   
His body made a muffled thud as it hit the carpet. Bogue peered at the fool staining his rug and sat back down in his well-cushioned arm chair.

“Bart, darlin’” A groan left his lips as a well-dressed brunette graced his doorway. “Is everything..Oh my..” She covered her mouth with a gloved hand and turned away from the gruesome scene in her husband's study. “And who exactly do you expect to clean up this mess?” she snapped as she turned on her heel and left briskly. 

Confounded woman. His wife was beautiful, a proper southern belle but lord she was annoying. Always pestering him when he clearly had more important things to do. He had only married her because his father arranged it and her family owned a lot of land. She’d birthed a son to carry on the esteemed Bogue name and once that was done he needed nothing else from her. 

Bogue’s perfect little world was crumbling. They were taking his land, his fortune and his slaves. It was all his. They couldn't have it. It was his.

“IT’S MINE! THEY CAN’T TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE!” he shrieked, swinging his arms and knocking everything atop of the desk careering onto the floor. He stood hunched over in his study and screamed in fury. He would teach them a lesson. They would rue the day they made a fool out of Bartholomew Bogue. He would take everything back, everything they took from him and more. He would make them pay, dearly. 

He did not fear God. He’d have to believe in God first and after the events of the Civil War, Bogue had a firm belief that there was no God. How could a creator who supposedly loved his creations lead them to such bloodshed and cruelty? He had seen first hand the darkness in the hearts of men and how easily they killed one another over their differences. 

The devil however? The devil was a different matter. The devil would be more accommodating to his desires. He was the one who walked among men and whispered their pleasures in their ears: surely he would be eager to bargain.

On a calm moonless night where not even a cricket clicked a melody Bogue committed an unspeakable deed. Blood splattered across the no-longer white walls of the dining room: his wife and son slain by his own hands, his own mortal soul offered for the sake of revenge.. 

Bogue stood before the gruesome scene. “I will grant you whatever you want, however vile, and the curtailing of my life." The candles that had been dimly illuminating the room blew out as a strange wind whipped through the house. From the darkness a shadow approached slowly on all fours. All Bogue could see in it were two eyes watching his every move. It shifted into something taller and spoke in a deep hollow voice in language Bogue didn’t understand. 

It repeated its words, sounding almost like two voices speaking at the same time in different languages. “What dost thou want?”

He frowned and swallowed hard. “Revenge. Everything they took from me! I want it back! I’ll make ‘em suffer! I’ll take everything from them!” he snarled, balling his fists tightly. The shadow before him made no sound or movement “So? Is that it? Do I need to sign a book or something like people say?”

This time the figure moved forward casting its own dim glow. Bogue’s brow furrowed deep as the formless figure took definite shape, that of a tall Indian man with a white stripe across his emotionless face. Bogue felt all the air in his lungs leave him as something struck him hard in the chest. 

The sickening noise of his ribs cracking and muscle tearing echoed through his ears. “You will have what you want.” 

Bogue glanced up at the man who pushed his hand deeper into Bart’s chest until his heart was firmly between his fingers. “And you will live an eternity until I claim your soul.”

Bartholomew Bogue screamed in agonising pain as he drew his last breath as a human being and became the embodiment of greed. To live until he was dragged to the very gates of hell itself.

 

 

_New York. Present day, 10th July_

It had been a few days since the mess with Bogue had ended. Everyone had convened in Matthew’s room since he was in the worst shape. Once his operations had been finished the extent of his injures came to light: he would never walk again. There had been a gunshot that had caused damage to his spinal cord. 

 

The news had hit Emma hard - only Vasquez’ strong shoulder had prevented her collapsing when she was first told - but she was determined to be strong for her selfless husband. Science and modern medicine was improving - someday he might be able to walk. Someday.

Cassandra was still confined to a wheelchair with a warning that she wasn’t to overexert herself. Sam was on crutches and was only using them because Goodnight had threatened to handcuff them to him if he didn’t. Billy had his arm in a sling to stop him moving his shoulder too much and ripping his stitches: again. Vasquez and Red were the most mobile and helped the others, not that they asked since they all seemed to be as stubborn as each other. 

Faraday had the window open as wide as it would go and had his arm hanging out of it with a cigarette on the go. He was the only one willing to accept the wheelchair and only because he like racing down the corridors in it.

“Joshua Faraday!” came Jack’s booming voice as he was wheeled into the room by Red Harvest. Jack had been told he had to use a wheelchair after over exerting himself and making his own injures worse by trying to look after everyone else. “You can smoke outside.”

“They won’t let me out to smoke,” Faraday whined, taking a daring last drag on his cigarette.

“For good reason,” Jack huffed, rising out of his wheelchair marching over to the window to close it, frowning in disappointment at Faraday who shrugged and slumped down into a chair. Now everyone was gathered Sam cleared his throat. 

“Thank you all for your help. It came at great cost, but we brought down a true devil..” Sam started his speech like he did most things: serious and to the point.

“Sam, come on. There’s no need for such formalities.” Goodnight interrupted from his spot behind Cassandra’s wheelchair.

 

“The lord brought us together to defeat an evil that had plagued this land for decades.” Jack announced quite simply and smiled warmly at the occupants of the room “I don’t think I’ve ever met such brave men and women.”

Vasquez nodded. “We got to see a real ghost, after all these years. It’s hard to believe that Bogue wasn’t human, but we saw him evaporate into smoke”  
“I don’t want to see another.” Faraday added shuffling uncomfortably in his wheelchair.  
“Call yourself a ghost-hunter.” Red joked earning a snide remark from Faraday.. 

“Enough you two. Goodness.” Jack frowned but a smile tugged at his lips, the room erupted into a brief wave of laughter.

Sam stood at the foot of Matthew’s bed and looked between the Cullens. “I’ll do everything I can to help.”

“We will too.” Goodnight smiled warmly.

Billy and Cass squeezed each others’ hands, they were all a little worse for wear but at least they had each other and new-found friends. 

“It was a terrible thing, but at least we can look to the future.” Emma solemnly held Matthew’s hand in hers gently. 

“We can overcome anything after this.” Matthew grinned at Emma, making her return the smile: it was the first she had smiled properly in days. Things wouldn't go back the way they were but with this horrifying ordeal over, a new brighter chapter was ready to be written.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's over. A huge thank you to Fontainebleau for her help with my editing! you're a star!


End file.
